


As Expected

by phlintandsteel



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Civil War Team Ironman, Comic Book Science, Endgame AU, I started this before seeing Endgame so this has nothing to do with canon, M/M, No Spoilers, Not Steve Friendly, Steve gets what he wishes for, Thanos’ defeat is hand-wavey, Tony Stark is too good for this world, Tony is not a saint ok, but it’s a very small section, like at all, mentions of a lot of people “pairing up” during the journey through space, nanobots FTW, not the how of defeating him, ok maybe Tony is a saint, oops I accidentally redeemed Wanda though, post-Endgame AU, rebuilding on earth, some frankly unhealthy coping mechanisms on James’ and Bucky’s parts (aka they fuck), space travel, this focuses on the aftermath of defeating Thanos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-02-26 02:24:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18714607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phlintandsteel/pseuds/phlintandsteel
Summary: (This fic contains NO SPOILERS for Endgame)SUMMARY:Tony is sitting on his ass, trying to catch his breath in the dust of an alien planet when the Avengers take their vote.It goes as expected.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, this fic contains NO SPOILERS for Endgame. Yes, I have seen it, but I had started writing this and plotted it out beforehand, and decided it would be better to leave it as I had envisioned instead of trying to tweak it. You can consider this a complete and total AU.

Tony is sitting on his ass, trying to catch his breath in the dust of an alien planet when the Avengers take their vote.

 

It goes as expected.  

 

“Ever heard of the monkey’s paw, Rogers?” he asks tiredly, staring into the distance.

 

Rogers looks over at him, his hand already sliding into the new gauntlet as he says, “No?  What does that have to do with anything?”

 

Tony just blinks at him, letting the ramifications of what _they all decided_ settle over the rest of the “team” like the sudden shadow of an unrealized predator.

 

“Never mind.  Don’t worry about it.  I’m sure your righteous moral fortitude will be enough to carry you through like always.”

 

Bruce gives Tony a look that would be indecipherable under any other circumstances.  But Tony sees it for what it is.  The Hulk’s recent lessons with discovering that he is not, in fact, invulnerable, have gone a long way in reconciling the scientist to his alter ego.  Because they now both understand not only anger, but _fear_ as well.

 

Tony shrugs as he gets up, turning away from the miracle about to unfold.  He opts to take in the view afforded them by the high ground where the Mad Titan had settled for his retirement instead.  He ignores the Titan’s body cooling in the dirt.

 

“Steve, a word of advice?  I’d concentrate on bringing back everyone killed directly _and indirectly_ by Thanos,” Bruce’s voice floats over the gentle breeze to Tony.  

 

Tony closes his eyes, silently thanking his science bro for filling in the gaps that he can’t anymore.

 

He’s already learned his lesson in trying to offer helpful suggestions to these lunatics.  

 

He thinks he remembers hearing once, that there was a saying about needing crazy people to accomplish what everyone else thinks is impossible…  But he’s not sure that _this_ is what was meant by it.

 

After a few seconds, hundreds of bright skinned natives pop into existence near the stream a little ways from them.  

 

“Oh, I thought I’d have to say something out loud…  Huh.”

 

Tony closes his eyes, willing away the frisson of fear that tingles his spine at the knowledge that the person with possibly the least ability to make informed decisions in all of existence has power over all of existence.  

 

Suddenly more than just natives appear out of thin air around them.  

 

The gauntlet is smoking faintly on Rogers’ arm as the confused voices of their previously deceased teammates fill the air.

 

“General Okoye?”

 

“Stevie?”

 

“Mr. Stark!”

 

Tony’s eyes whip open as he turns to face the bundle of spider themed superhero about to collide with him.  In the back of his mind, he’s keeping track of the fact that Rogers still hasn’t removed the gauntlet, even as he’s hugging the ever-living stuffing out of Peter.  

 

“You ok, kid?” Tony manages to get out, while simultaneously trying to keep the tears in.  

 

“Me?  I’m good, Mr. Stark, I’m fine.  Great even.  I promise to never get disintegrated by a delusional madman ever again,” Peter jokes.  

 

Tony isn’t in the mood, but he chokes on a half-laugh, half-sob as an appeasement to Peter’s weird humor.  Kids these days, man.

 

After assuring Peter that _he’s_ alright, Tony hazards a glance at the other reunions going on around them.  It looks like whatever Rogers did not only brought everyone back, but brought everyone even loosely affiliated as an “Avenger” here to them.  Great.  Now he’s going to have to find room and supplies for more than a dozen extra people on the spaceship for the ride home.  Way to think ahead, Rogers.  It’s not like running out of food, water, and oxygen while out in space is a new trigger of Tony’s or anything.  Not at all.

 

“You ok, Buck?” Rogers asks Barnes, who immediately upon being wished back into existence sat down on the ground gracelessly and started staring at nothing.  

 

“Just gettin’ tired of all this magical bullshit, that’s all,” Barnes sighs, attempting a wan smile.  

 

From Tony’s viewpoint, he can see the disappointment over that response on Rogers’ face.  He clearly was expecting a little more enthusiasm for having been rescued on his best friend’s part…  Maybe more of a _thanks..._

 

And he’s _still_ wearing the gauntlet.

 

Tony knows that it’s only a matter of time before Rogers’ fucked-up logic and archaic rhetoric screw things up, as long as he continues to wear that thing.  But if Tony’s the one to suggest the man take it off, it will only be a fight, only get hackles raised and with an end result of Rogers wearing it for _even longer._  So he’s biting his tongue and praying to any god that might hear that Rogers will take it off voluntarily like the overgrown boy scout he claims to be.  

 

With his luck, the only god listening is probably the newly-resurrected Loki.

 

Tony catches movement out of the corner of his eye and sees that Dr. Strange guy heading right for Rogers.  Christ.  Self-awareness may not be his strong suit, but Tony can admit that half the reason he and Strange butted heads the way they did was because they were so much alike.  And all evidence points to that sort of approach going over like a lead fucking balloon with the Captain.

 

Before Tony can open his mouth to divert Strange’s attention though, there’s a _warble_ in the air above them.  It’s not one of the clearly defined portals that he’s seen Strange make, but it doesn’t look quite like the teleportation gateway that Thanos made with the gauntlet either.  That was a blue-edged rip in space, where this looks more like green tinged pond water hovering in the air.

 

And then Bucky Barnes falls out of it, smacking onto the ground with a velocity that indicates he’d been falling from a much greater height than just that of the portal’s opening.  That hard of an impact of course knocks him out immediately, but Tony could swear he sees a flash of _sheer terror_ in his eyes before he hits.

 

“What the _fuck?”_ Barnes springs up off the ground, looking between Rogers and their new arrival in shock.  

 

In his defense, not that Tony would ever voice one, Rogers looks just as shocked as Barnes does.  

 

Then Barnes’ face clouds over.

 

Rogers shakes his head, his eyes wide.

 

“This isn’t what I…  I didn’t mean…”

 

“Steve,” Barnes interrupts, his voice laced with a steel command that Tony’s never heard from the man before.  “Take off the fucking glove.”

 

Rogers blinks at him for a second.  

 

“Right now,” Barnes orders, watching him like he’s evaluating whether or not he needs to _strike._  

 

Rogers takes off the gauntlet, guilt written in his every movement.

 

Tony, along with a handful of other people that he instantly commits to memory, all relax.  

 

Rogers is blushing furiously in shame as Barnes snatches the artifact out of his hands.  

 

“Buck-”

 

“Save it, Steve,” Barnes glowers at him, looking at the man in disbelief.

 

Tony goes over to the prone Bucky’s form as soon as the gauntlet is out of Rogers’ hands.  The movement, probably coupled with his wanting to escape Barnes’ disapproval, draws Rogers’ attention to Tony almost immediately.

 

“What are you doing?” Rogers frowns, as if his accusatory tone will somehow make people forget what he just did.

 

As it is, everyone else is just sort of milling around uncomfortably.

 

Tony doesn’t even look at Rogers, just kneels beside Bucky and rolls him onto his back.  “Uh, judging by the uniform, this version of Barnes just came to an abrupt stop at the end of a fall through the Alps.  Even though he was technically already a super soldier at this point, he _might_ still need a little thing called _medical attention…”_

 

In the background, he can hear Strange demanding Barnes turn over the gauntlet to an actual magic user as Tony tries to check Bucky’s vitals.  He’s still got a pulse, so that’s promising.

 

“No.”

 

“Excuse me?” Dr. Strange’s spine immediately stiffens at the refusal.  “And what grounds are you basing your denial on, exactly?” he asks in a superior tone, crossing his arms over his chest.  

 

“The fact that you want it so badly,” Barnes says, in a surprisingly astute display.  

 

Dr. Strange is flummoxed for a moment by the validity of his logic.  Barnes has absolutely no knowledge of the man though, so he doesn’t know that turning the gauntlet over to Strange probably is their best bet at this point.  

 

Instead, Barnes looks around at the gathered group, then strides away toward the fringes of it.  

 

Tony is so caught up in seeing what happens to the gauntlet that he forgets about tending to the fallen soldier for a moment.  

 

Rogers is looking at Barnes too, but it’s with a longing gaze, like he wishes he knew how to fix this...

 

Barnes goes directly up to Thor and thrusts the gauntlet into his hands.  

 

“Hold onto this until we can find a way to destroy it, alright?” he charges the god of thunder.  

 

Thor nods, looking fully prepared to give him his solemn vow, but is interrupted by Loki speaking first.

 

“You have no desire to wield it yourself?”  

 

Barnes gives him a flat look and says, “Do I look like I know what I’m doing?”

 

Loki’s eyes flit up and down him as he says, “Point.”

 

Barnes shares a nod with Thor and then turns on his heel.  He’s still obviously moving with a purpose, his steps long and sure, and heading right for Tony.  It’s not a particular scene or angle that would give Tony flashbacks per se, but it does make his heart rate tick up a little.  It makes him briefly want to skitter backward and _away,_ but he holds his ground.  Tony busies himself checking Bucky’s pupils while Barnes drops to his knees on the other side of the man.

 

“Shit.  His dilation is uneven, his right pupil is completely blown, we need to get him on the ship, ASAP.  I’ve got a med bay there,” Tony says, unsure how much his bastardized version of the serum can heal without outside help.  

 

“Allow me,” Dr. Strange says, standing at Bucky’s feet.

 

“Is your license to practice really still valid?” Tony says sarcastically, while Barnes gives the man a wary look.

 

“That’s not what I meant.  But yes,” Dr. Strange says, raising his arms and producing a pair of blue mandalas.  They sweep Bucky from head to toe, lingering over his head afterward.  “That will heal the worst of it, but he’ll have to take care of the rest himself.”

 

“So he’ll live?” Barnes asks, still untrusting.  

 

“He’ll live,” Dr. Strange confirms, “But you should probably still move him to your ship…”

 

“Right,” Tony says as he uses some of his nanoparticles to make a stretcher materialize underneath Bucky, “Someone needs to see if we can barter with the locals for some extra food and stuff for the trip home.”

 

“Wow…” Barnes utters softly, watching the stretcher take form at Tony’s will.  

 

Tony spares him a glance, which Barnes meets but immediately looks away from, sheepish.

 

“I thought nanoparticles were banned by that inter-galactic treaty thing like a thousand years ago?…” Quill says, watching Peter and Barnes lift the ends of the stretcher.  

 

“I was going to tell him _after_ we’d defeated Thanos,” Rocket shrugs.

 

“I am Groot.  I am Groot…” Groot chimes in.

 

“I agree with the tree, we needed all the help we could get,” Nebula says.  

 

“What do you mean they’re _banned?”_ Rhodey asks, keeping a watchful eye on the situation as Barnes rebuffs all attempts to help from Rogers.  It’s obvious Barnes is furious at the man for what another version of himself suddenly popping in to existence _means,_ but only time will tell if it’s enough to actually change his _opinion_ of the Captain permanently.  

 

“The Ko Treaty was signed _three_ thousand years ago, by all the advanced civilizations in the galaxy,” Carol Danvers answers him, “It didn’t actually ban nanoparticles, but part of the other civilizations’ requirements for signing the Ko’s treaty was that their leader would never use nanoparticles in war and that she wouldn’t pass down the secret of making them when she died.”

 

“So why has no one else used them since then if they’re _not_ banned?” Quill asks, like maybe he’s caught her up in a lie.

 

Carol gives him a pointed look, then goes back to watching Tony lead Peter and Barnes to where they left the ship.  

 

Rogers sulks in the background.

 

“Because ever since the Ko Empress took the secret to her grave, no one’s been able to figure out how to make them again.”

 

<//>

 

Between the All-Speak and the fact that the natives are apparently fluent in Groot, they manage to barter for enough supplies to make it back home.  Since the majority of them are from _Terra,_ or have nowhere else to go, there’s no debate on destination.  Tony also kindly points out that it’s his ship, so he has final say in the itinerary.

 

Tony also makes a brief inquiry about whether or not Groot takes in carbon dioxide and expels oxygen like the plants on earth.  

 

“Of course he does.  Why do you think I teamed up with the asshole’s dad to start with?” Rocket answers.  

 

<//>  

 

Bucky regains consciousness later that evening, but it takes two days for them to be ready to leave again.  Barnes stays with him, explaining the situation as calmly as he can, all things considered.  Tony is pretty sure Bucky thinks this is some crazy end of life hallucination, or maybe a really fucked up after-life, but he doesn’t press the issue.  How to determine if what you’re experiencing is “real” or not is a game that drives people mad if they try to play it.  And Bucky looks like he’s already gotten so used to hell that this is basically just a change of color scheme.

 

Neither of them spend any significant amount of time in Rogers’ presence.  Not after Barnes explains that this is _not_ the Steve they grew up with and Bucky realizes what the man did in bringing him here.  Which is apparently proof in and of itself that Steve is _different._

 

If Tony were a better man, he wouldn’t think to himself that Rogers is getting exactly what he deserves, but, well…  Tony is who he is at this point, and he’s done apologizing for it.

 

It’s unanimously decided by Dr. Strange, Wanda, Vision, _and_ _Loki_ that trying to tamper any further with the space-time-continuum or whatnot is _inadvisable._  Especially if it involves anyone trying to use the infinity stones again.  So Bucky is here to stay.  As far as they can tell, Steve somehow wished an exact copy of Barnes as he was when he _fell_ into existence, so it’s not like some other dimension is missing him.

 

<//>

 

Peter asks Dr. Strange if he can just use his sling-ring to get them to earth, but apparently it has its limits.  

 

Nobody suggests trying to use the gauntlet instead of making the flight.

 

<//>

 

“All systems are a go, Boss,” Friday says after running through take off procedures.  

 

Tony knows everyone is already sitting down and is as strapped in as they can get, so he only pauses dramatically for half a moment before he says, “Engage.”

 

Quill rolls his eyes.

 

Rhodey snorts beside him.

 

Tony smiles, waiting for the teasing he knows is coming as the G forces start to press them all back into their seats.

 

“A nerd to the very end...”

 

“What?  When does anybody actually get a chance to say something like that?” Tony defends with a grin.

 

“You already said it on the trip here!” Rhodey points out with a laugh as they argue.  

 

“Exactly.  So you shouldn’t be surprised.”

 

“He called me ‘Scotty’ the other day too,” Bruce brings up, his tone fond.

 

“You’re the one always going on and on about how you’re ‘not that kind of doctor’,” Tony says lightheartedly in his defense.  

 

“Can we all just focus on flying?” Rogers asks.

 

“Absolutely not,” Tony answers, “Fri?  Give us some music to break the gravitational pull to.”

 

Everyone who knows Tony expects a high energy, heavy metal something or other to start pouring out of the speakers, but the song Friday chooses starts off with a relatively easy going guitar and a smooth pace.

 

Tony frowns, but once he finally recognizes the singer’s voice and what song it is, he laughs.  And laughs and laughs.  Possibly somewhat inappropriately.  But like he said, no apologizing for being who he is anymore.  They had a huge victory and he didn’t even get to throw a party or have “thank god we’re alive” sex with anyone, so nobody gets to say anything if he gets a case of the giggles as they’re leaving.

 

“I haven’t heard this one before...” Quill says, like he doesn’t approve of the mediocre selection.

 

“Home, Daughtry, November 2006,” Dr. Strange says, like reciting it is a ritual that means something different to him than the rest of them.  

 

Rhodey starts singing along, the _alternative_ rock betrayer that he is, and Tony is in a weird enough mood with everything that’s happened to admit to knowing the lyrics as well, so he joins him.  Bruce shakes his head, but he starts singing too, and they discover that even Thor knows the chorus somehow, likely from his time with Jane and Darcy.

 

Tony’s voice has a slightly maniacal, vindicated edge to it as he sings, “Be careful what you wish for, ‘cause you just might get it all.  You just might get it aaaaaaall, and then some you don’t want...”

 

Out of the corner of his eye, Tony can see Barnes staring at him.  It’s for long enough that it draws Bucky’s attention too, where he’s strapped in beside Barnes.  If Rogers had some sort of misguided hope that saving Bucky from his fall would somehow get him back a best friend that was more like the man he remembered in the 30’s, well, Bucky’s thousand-yard-stare after waking up had dispelled that notion quickly.  Apparently serving in WWII was enough to give the man a heavy dose of PTSD, even without the being captured by Hydra thing.  Who knew.

 

“Are they losin’ it?” Bucky asks, not understanding the nuances of what’s going on and seeing the careful attention Barnes is paying to Tony.  The two soldiers have pretty much stuck together like glue since the moment Bucky appeared, like Barnes doesn’t quite _trust_ him with anyone else.

 

Barnes shakes his head and looks away.  “Nah.  That implies we had it to begin with.  And I’m pretty sure the only sane one around here is Friday.”

 

“I thought Friday was the ship?” Bucky asks, his brow furrowing for a moment.

 

“You heard me.”

 

Bucky looks like he doesn’t know what to do with that, but that ultimately he doesn’t really care.  He just blinks and goes back to looking out the window as they breach the atmosphere.

 

He’s going to fit right in at this rate.  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The original crew of the spaceship: Tony, Rhodey, Bruce, Steve, Nat, Clint, Carol, Nebula, Thor, Rocket, and Okoye
> 
> Add-ons for the return journey thanks to Steve: Sam, T’Challa, Brunhilde, Loki, Doctor Strange, Quill, Gamora, Mantis, Drax, Groot, Peter Parker, James, Bucky, Vision, Wanda, and Scott.  
> Basically everyone who fought alongside at least one of the original Avengers at some point. I imagine this was due to Steve having some half-formed thought about Barnes being an "auxiliary member" when he wished him to his side.  
> ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Space is fucking freezing.  

 

You’d think all the extra people would make the ambient room temperatures warmer, but the life support system is also under much more stress than predicted.  And they need over twice as much oxygen for the return journey as was originally calculated.  Groot can only do so much, so if they want to be able to breathe easily, they can’t be _burning_ any extra energy/oxygen by kicking up the heater.

 

Tony doesn’t have quite the same level of issues with cold that some of their other passengers do, but he still doesn’t like it.  He wears multiple layers at all times and makes sad puppy eyes at Rhodey until the man goes and asks Carol to warm up Tony’s coffee for him again with her hands.  He’s doing the man a favor with his neediness, really.

 

He counts his machinations as a victory on the best-friend-wing-man front when Rhodey tells him that he won’t be bunking up with Tony anymore one night, as he’s received a better offer.  Tony grins and fist-bumps him.

 

“That’s fine, Sugar Plum, Brucie-Bear is more than enough to keep me warm at night.”

 

Except, Bruce comes to him later that same day and explains that Thor insisted on him and Brunhilde having some bonding time with their little “Revengers” group, since who knew what ways they would all be parting to once they reached earth…

 

Who is Tony to stand in the way of team bonding?  He dispels Bruce’s concerns about perceived rejections easily.  Just because they’re all two or three to a bed right now like some elementary school slumber party doesn’t mean Tony’s feelings are going to be hurt like a prepubescent girls’.  He isn’t sure how the others are shifting things around to make all that work, but if it leaves him with a bed to himself, he isn’t going to complain.

 

Except, when he tries to go to sleep that night, he can’t, because of the _cold._  

 

If Tony puts on any more pairs of socks he’s going to cut off his circulation, so he finally gets up and drags himself to the kitchen.  Hopefully drinking something warm will bring his core temperature up enough to let him relax and fall asleep.  They still have another month before they reach earth, even with utilizing jump points.  Their food stocks have been holding out alright though, so Tony doesn’t feel bad about having an extra cup of warm milk outside their scheduled meals.

 

When he turns on the lights, there are a pair of boots laying on the bench seat that’s attached to the picnic style tables where they eat. 

 

You just don’t do loose, extraneous furniture like _chairs_ in space.  

 

“Barnes?” he says incredulously, his eyes still adjusting to the brightness.  

 

“I’m Bucky,” the man says, blinking as he sits up.

 

“Same difference,” another voice from the other side of the table says, though Barnes doesn’t bother sitting up.  

 

“What are you two doing here?” Tony frowns, addressing them both.  

 

“We got kicked out.  There was a shake up goin’ on or somethin’ and everybody’s switchin’ beds,” Bucky says with a shrug.  

 

“Who the hell kicked _you two_ out of your bed?” Tony asks, because they’d either have to have balls of steel or a death wish to try intimidating two super soldiers at once.

 

“Nebula,” Barnes admits, finally sitting up since it’s apparent an entire conversation is going to be had.  

 

“Oh.”  Tony nods as he processes, “The benches are a good compromise, keeps you up off the floor at least.”

 

“Exactly,” Bucky nods back.  

 

Barnes must have told Bucky his life story as it happened in this world, because as reluctant as Bucky is to talk to most of _the team,_ he’s the one usually speaking for the pair when it comes to Tony.  Barnes isn’t so silent that it’s weird, but it’s just a thing Tony’s noticed.  Even after they had their little heart to heart about Tony not being mad at him anymore for being the tool Hydra used to kill his parents, Barnes still keeps his distance like it’s out of respect or something.  Granted, they only had that conversation recently, since Barnes is no longer hiding in Wakanda or being accompanied by an overly patriotic shadow everywhere...

 

“This is ridiculous.  I’m freezing my spectacular ass off for lack of body heat while you two are down here sleeping on eight inch strips of stainless steel?”

 

“It’s more like ten,” Barnes says, like he’s going to argue about the comfort level of the industrial grade surface.

 

“That’s what he said,” Tony scoffs, putting a whole different twist on Barnes’ words.  

 

“Why would you be cold?  I thought you shared with Rhodes and Banner?” Bucky interjects, likely because of the incredible blush overtaking Barnes’ face.  

 

“Well…  I may have been trying my absolute hardest to help Honey-Bear with his massive crush, and it actually came to fruition, which, now that I think about it, Nebula was sharing with Carol, wasn't she?  So this is actually all my fault, and you should come sleep with me immediately.”

 

Barnes frowns, but his cheeks are still delightfully red.  “What about Banner?”

 

“My Brucie-Bear is super popular and got invited to braid the other girl’s hair while they reminisce about overthrowing a megalomaniacal dictator together.  Standard sleepover stuff,” Tony explains.

 

“I thought that Dr. Strange guy was sharin’ with Brunhilde?” Bucky asks.

 

“They were when the lots were drawn, but I’m pretty sure Strange has just been magicking himself a bed in the docking bay each night instead,” Tony tells them.

 

Barnes and Bucky share a look.  

 

“Hey, if you want to freeze your asses off down here, it’s no skin off my back.  Except for the part where I can’t sleep either because I’m so fucking cold that I came down here to get a glass of warm milk in a feeble attempt to feel less like a human popsicle again, but hey, whatever,” Tony says flippantly.  The supposed casualness of his statement might be ruined by the way he’s hugging his own arms and practically _daring_ them, but it’s really too late at night for playing games anyway.  

 

“Are you sure about this?...” Barnes asks, a weight in his gaze that’s all too knowing.

 

“I’ll tell you what, Barnes,” Tony says, unwrapping his arms just enough to point at the man briefly, “If it will make you feel better, you can sleep between me and the door.”  

 

“The door is at the foot of the beds,” Bucky points out.  

 

“My room has a different layout.  What?  It’s my ship,” Tony says, prepared to raise a haughty eyebrow at them.  

 

“Nothin’.  I just, wanted to make sure you really are ok with sharin’ with us…” Barnes explains.  

 

Tony has had enough of this ridiculous conversation, and he doesn’t even _like_ warm milk, so he goes back over and turns out the lights as he leaves the kitchen.  “Bring your pillows, boys, I only have one,” he says on his way out.

 

Two pairs of super soldier footsteps follow him.  

 

Tony goes back to his room and opens the door wide, waiting for the soldiers to catch up.  Barnes and Bucky trail after him, each holding their pillows and a blanket.

 

“This is exactly the same as the others, just turned sideways and with a desk instead of a second bed,” Bucky says quizzically.

 

“Yeah?  I told you it was different.  I need a desk to record my captain’s logs, _duh,”_ Tony says, because it’s obvious that _some people_ think he must have vastly different amenities than the rest of them…  Tony’s way past the point of caring what most people think of him though.  “You’re in first against the wall, Bucky, so ditch the combat boots,” Tony tells him, making a chop chop motion with his hands.  

 

Bucky does as he’s told, unlacing his boots and scooting all the way back against the wall.  There will barely be enough room for the three of them if they all sleep back to back, but that’s the challenge several groups face every night, so nobody complains.  Tony lays down and doesn’t mince any inches, pressing his whole back against Bucky’s front.  Bucky puts a tentative hand on Tony’s hip.  Barnes lays down last, trying to give Tony room but ultimately needing to fail.  They’re only standard twin size beds, so his back has to end up pressed against Tony unless he wants to risk falling off.

 

Tony adjusts his arms a little, wrapping his free one around Barnes’ waist in an attempt to reassure him.  Then he sighs in contentment as the warm bliss of two super soldiers and a combined three blankets starts to work its magic.  

 

“You don’t have any problem with me sleepin’ at your back?” Bucky questions gently, even though it’s a bit late for that now.  

 

“No, why would I?”  

 

“You do have to admit there’s, uh, a little tension between you and Barnes…” Bucky points out.  

 

“And I told him I’m over that.  We’re working on it.  But regardless, you’re not him anyway, so I don’t see what the problem would be…”

 

“I’m not?” Bucky asks wryly.

 

Tony can almost hear a hint of a smile in his voice.  “No.  You had as much choice about getting wished into existence as he had in working for Hydra.”

 

Barnes tenses up in front of him, but Tony squeezes him, hoping the physical closeness will help dispel the mental or emotional distance or whatever that the man seems to feel like he needs to keep from Tony.

 

Breath by breath, Barnes relaxes as Tony holds him.  He even goes so far as to squeeze Tony’s hand at one point.  This is the warmest Tony’s been in a long time, so he relishes it.  Not that Rhodey and Bruce don’t do an admirable job of sleeping next to him, but they don’t run hot like a super soldier does.  Plus, Bruce makes them _take turns_ being in the middle, which Tony gets the feeling that Barnes and Bucky wouldn’t care about.

 

They’re on a return journey through space after saving the universe, so he’s been telling heteronormativity to fuck off from the beginning.  

 

“I have the best ideas,” Tony mumbles as he drifts off.  

 

He wakes up the next morning warm and pretty damn well rested, all things considered.  

 

He also has an erection, which is inescapably nestled right into the curve of Barnes’ ass.  But Bucky’s is also lodged firmly against his, so Tony figures that makes them even.  It could be awkward, waking up like that, so Tony does what he does best and addresses the issue head on.

 

“Ok, I’ll give you a solid nine, but I won’t believe ten unless we break out the measuring tape.”  

 

“What?” Barnes says groggily as he sits up.  He stretches a little and stands, so that the rest of them can get up too, which reveals that he is _not_ in the same situation Tony and Bucky are.  

 

That takes a little fun out of the teasing, so Tony just gives him an apologetic smile as he sits up and says, “Never mind.  Thanks for sharing your blankets and everything for the night.”

 

“Any time,” Bucky says, squeezing Tony’s shoulder as he climbs out around him.  

 

Neither of them look upset about the erection thing.  If anything, Bucky seems to be ignoring that particular biological function altogether.  

 

“Hey, if you’re ever on the run from a blue skinned cyborg on the same night Bruce is off playing “Mean Girls” again, feel free to stop by.”

 

Barnes and Bucky both blink at him with _identical fucking expressions,_ like they have no idea what he just said but they don’t want to look like idiots by asking about the finer points.  

 

“Ok,” Barnes finally says, “Thanks for lettin’ us stay here.”

 

“Any time,” Tony says less intricately.  

 

After they leave to hit the head and do whatever it is they do all day, Tony rolls back under his lone blanket to try and absorb any lingering heat left behind.  Maybe he’ll just give up and wrap the blanket around his shoulders for the rest of the day.  They’re hurtling through space at a bajillion miles an hour, he can give the fashion gods the finger for a few weeks…

 

<//>

 

“So, Brucie-Bear, are you guys making the ‘sleepover’ a more permanent arrangement?” Tony wiggles his eyebrows at his science bro to add a little innuendo to the comment.  

 

“Um, something like that?...” Bruce says, blushing.

 

“Wait, really?  Way to go Big Green,” Tony grins, holding up his hand for a high five, “Just don’t expect me to give Thor the shovel talk.  I’m pretty sure the Other Guy has dibs on that already anyway.”

 

Bruce gives him the high five before he hears the rest of it and sputters.  “Tony, you are literally the only person who’s assumed it’s Thor and not Brunhilde…”

 

Tony makes a face.  “Brunhilde?  You guys are just friends.  And besides, isn’t she, like, a giant lesbian?”  

 

“Pretty much…  You really can see it though?  Me and Thor?” Bruce asks, like he’s asking for confirmation.  

 

“Of course.  You guys were off having adventures in space together for all that time, it’s totally plausible that you grew closer during your shared hardships, etc, etc.  Also, I think I walked in on Brunhilde and Nebula plotting to overthrow a race of organ traffickers after this as some sort of weird extended foreplay… So, universe be warned, I guess.”

 

<//>

 

Tony walks into the kitchen and flicks the light on.  

 

Bucky meets his gaze without sitting up, as if waiting for Tony to speak first.

 

Tony says nothing until Barnes finally sits up on the other side of the table to see what’s going on.  

 

“I’m cold,” Tony says, crossing his arms petulantly.  He makes sure it’s clear he’s addressing both of them.  

 

The soldiers share a look.  

 

“Bruce bein’ mean again?” Bucky says.

 

“Nah, I’m pretty sure he’s just getting laid, which, considering his partner literally has the stamina of a god, means he’ll be indisposed all night.”

 

They follow him back to his room like two highly skilled, mentally scarred puppies.  

 

Tony might need to work on his analogies…

 

Whatever.

 

He has his super soldier heaters back, which is all he cares about in this moment.  

 

“You want me between you and the door again?” Barnes asks softly.  

 

There’s something that feels off about how gentle his tone is under the harsh fluorescent lighting.

 

“I really don’t care, as long as I’m in the middle,” Tony says truthfully.

 

Barnes and Bucky decide to switch off then, since it looks like this might become a more permanent situation.  Permanent for the next 29 days, anyway.

 

Tony isn’t sure what they’re going to do when they get back.  He isn’t sure what he or any of them are going to do…  But that’s the future, and this is now, and he’s just going to enjoy being snuggled up in a warm super soldier sandwich while he can.  

 

<//>  

 

Three days later, Thor comes up behind Bucky while they’re eating and claps him on the back, startling the man badly enough that he throws Thor over his shoulder and across the room.  

 

Tony is afraid for a second that they’re going to have a Green Bean incident aboard their tin can hurtling through space, but Bruce just blinks as Thor shakes himself.

 

“Nice distance.  Your form’s a little off, but you’ve got potential,” Brunhilde says, nodding to Bucky as she takes a swig of alien moonshine.  

 

“You doin’ ok, Big Guy?” Nat says, holding herself carefully.  

 

Bruce gives her a half smile, motioning toward Thor with his fork.  “Please.  I’ve thrown him way harder than that before and he’s been fine.”  He ends the declaration by looking back to Thor and giving him a full smile.  

 

Thor grins back.  

 

“I must apologize for startling you, friend Bucky, I meant you no harm,” Thor says as he’s getting up off the floor.  

 

Bucky shakes his head, croaking out a, “Sorry,” before he flees the room.  

 

Barnes goes after him.

 

“Do you think he’s going to finish that?” Rocket says, eyeing Bucky’s half eaten plate of food.  

 

Tony rolls his eyes as he gets up from his seat.  Friday reminds them that if Bucky becomes curious where his food went, footage from the common areas is able to be viewed by anyone at any time.  

 

Rocket backs off.

 

Tony picks up the forgotten plate and dumps its contents into a tupperware, then sticks it in the fridge.  Barnes was already done with his, so there’s nothing left to save there.  Everyone is distracted by Thor regaling them with the tale of his and Bruce’s glorious single combat while Tony slips out of the kitchen.  

 

Rogers knows better than to try and follow the soldier duo by now.  There were a few times at the start of the journey where it seemed like Barnes and or Bucky had been hesitantly open to hearing Rogers out…  But knowing him, Tony’s sure the man must have stuck his foot in his mouth big time, because that hesitant openness was short lived.

 

Tony finds Bucky collapsed against the wall a few hallways down, his eyes wild and haunted, with Barnes doing his best to hold him and shelter him from prying eyes.  

 

“Come on, let’s get him out of the hallway, my room’s not far,” Tony says, helping to pull the man onto his feet.  

 

Bucky definitely looks like he’s losing ground to the images in his own mind, but doesn’t _want_ to be.  Tony shows them both into his room so they can at least have a little privacy.

 

“Stay.  Please.” Bucky says, voice choppy and throat constricted.  

 

So Tony takes over hugging him from behind while Bucky cries into Barnes’ shoulder.  It’s times like these that he wishes he hadn’t been in such a hurry to get this ship design finalized.  He wishes there was something, somewhere they could take Bucky that would be more comforting than white walls and modern chrome finishes and industrial lighting.  But this is what they have, so they’ll just have to make do with it.  Trying to do any sort of renovations mid-flight could be potentially disastrous.

 

Once Bucky is finally breathing evenly again, he squeezes Tony’s hand in thanks.

 

“I thought you only liked bein’ in the middle,” he whispers.

 

“I make exceptions for panic attacks, PTSD episodes, and sexual positions,” Tony tells him.  

 

Bucky makes a choking laugh of a sound.  

 

“I only insist on the middle when we sleep because my circulation’s bad,” Tony insists.  

 

“You did mumble somethin’ about us bein’ human heaters in your sleep the other night,” Barnes adds.  

 

“Eavesdropping is rude, Barnes.”

 

“You whispered it in my ear.”

 

“Still.  Listening to me when I subconsciously assume you’re sleeping is rude.”

 

“Sorry.  I promise I won’t listen to you anymore then.”

 

“Good.  You better not.”

 

Bucky lets their banter wash over him as he slowly stops shaking in their arms.  

 

<//>  

 

“Mr. Stark!  You promised to show me the nanoparticles on Wednesday, and it’s Wednesday, Mr. Sta-.  Oh, uh, I didn’t realize you were, uh, company.  I mean, that, you had some.  I’ll just, uh, wait for you after breakfast…”  The door is almost closed behind Peter when he says a sheepish, “Sorry,” through the crack, and then shuts it.

 

“I thought Carol said nanoparticles weren’t allowed to be passed on to other people?” Barnes mumbles into Tony’s shoulder.

 

Tony grumbles in response, burying his nose in Bucky’s neck as he says, “I didn’t sign any treaty.”  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


 

 


	3. Chapter 3

“You say you wish to strangle your brother, but that is not what you feel at all...  You love him very much.  Why do you insist on the lie?” Mantis asks Loki one day when he makes the mistake of _handing_ her something.  

 

Of course he denies such a thing, but Thor’s heard the proclamation already, so it’s too late.  This leads to the god of mischief being wrapped up in a bone crushing hug while he tells Thor that this is exactly the sort of thing that makes him want to stab the man.

 

Personally, and maybe somewhat uncharitably, Tony thinks that only very _simple_ beings let themselves be ruled by emotion alone.

 

“All siblings want to stab each other at some point,” Nebula says, like that should be obvious.  She and Gamora share a look, then tip their heads to each other.

 

This leads to a round of what the Guardians call the “Mantis Game” being played, where apparently people just let her get a read on their deepest feelings and tell everyone about it?...  It’s bizarre.  It’s like a train wreck that Tony can’t look away from.  Thankfully Dr. Strange refuses to play first, so Tony isn’t the one “causing division” by being the first to deny her.  

 

Apparently Drax feels adrift and purposeless without the revenge that’s driven him all these years.  

 

Peter just wants to be strong enough and smart enough to protect the people he loves, but worries that he isn’t.  

 

Scott Lang feels remorse for all the times he’s screwed up in the past.

 

T’Challa and Okoye both decline to play.

 

Tony is just about to lose interest in continuing to watch this when _Rogers agrees_ to let Mantis reveal his innermost feelings.  

 

He gives a pointed, longing look to Barnes and Bucky before he gives his hand over to her.

 

What the fuck.  

 

Leave it to Rogers to try and let an alien bug-lady find the words for his emotions and bridge the gap he’s created by not thinking things through instead of doing the emotional labor himself.  

 

Or, you know, just taking “no” for an answer.

 

“You feel...stubbornness.  Overwhelming stubbornness.  You are incapable of compromise or any true empathy.  You feel like you are the center of and most important factor in any situation-”

 

Steve interrupts her with a frown.  “That’s not true.  I’m concentrating on how much I care about Bucky and want him to understand that what happened wasn’t because I wanted to hurt him.”

 

Mantis blinks her too large eyes at him.  “That is not how it works.  I cannot read minds, only the core of a person’s emotional state.”  

 

“She told Gamora that Quill wanted to bone her,” Rocket snickers.

 

“I am Groot?” Groot questions.

 

“That was before your time, kid,” Rocket answers.  

 

Barnes is looking at Rogers like he’s trying to light him on fire with his gaze alone.  Tony would know what it looks like, he’s certainly tried it enough times before himself.  

 

“You know, you keep tellin’ me that Steve’s changed,” Bucky speaks up, his voice sounding slightly detached.  It doesn’t cut the tension in the air though.  If anything it adds to it.  “But I don’t think you’re right.  From what I remember, he was always like this.  It just didn't matter much when he was tiny.”

 

Bucky delivers the line while looking right into Rogers’ eyes.  Tony has _seen_ people’s souls get crushed before, and this isn’t that.  

 

You know, it was always _Tony_ that people worried about going super villain...  

 

Mantis draws in a breath, not even really a gasp, though you can still hear the shock in it.  

 

_“Sleep,”_ she quickly says, her hands still holding one of Rogers’.  The emotion drains from his face and he blinks groggily.  Mantis puts one of her palms on his forehead and repeats her command. _“Sleep.”_

 

Rogers crumples to the floor.  

 

“I cannot believe you idiots voted to let that guy be the one to use the gauntlet,” Rocket says, shuddering.  

 

“You voted for _yourself_ to be given the gauntlet,” Nebula reminds him.

 

“Well yeah, but I don’t go around pretending to _not_ be an asshole,” Rocket points out.

 

“Aye, if I could, I would go back and change my vote,” Thor says as he’s binding Rogers’ arms.  

 

Dr. Strange comes and places some sort of magical ward thing over him as well when Thor is done.

 

“Uh, isn’t that a bit much?” Scott says, looking like he has no idea why Captain America is being so quickly restrained.  

 

“No.  It’s not,” Wanda answers him, walking into the common area like she knows exactly what’s going on.  “Steve had somehow convinced himself that it was Tony’s fault that Barnes and Bucky wanted nothing to do with him.”

 

Which is rich, coming from her.

 

Wanda doesn’t approach Tony so much as she just turns toward him.  

 

“He was trying to gather the others together to lead a mutiny against you.  Natasha and Clint have already been subdued by myself and Vision.  I know you are probably shocked that I did not go along with such a thing, which is my fault.  I have wronged you in the past, Tony, but I am going to try my hardest not to do so again,” Wanda tells him.

 

“Why the change of heart?” Tony asks, cautious even as his pulse jumps over what she’s revealed.  

 

“...Let us just say that in trying to help Vision understand humanity a little better, I have come to a better understanding of _logic_ through our conversations.  You are not at fault for my parents’ death, Tony.  You never were.  I was a child who thought childlike thoughts when I decided that, but I was wrong.  And when Steve came to me with that same illogical desperation in his eyes, I knew I couldn’t be part of his plans.  That I should probably never have been part of them...  And for that, I am sorry.”

 

Tony would gape at her if he was any less trained in handling crowds.  

 

“Uh, well, thanks.  For the whole, not mutinying thing,” he nods.

 

Wanda nods back.

 

“Yeah, he approached us too,” Quill speaks up with a swagger, “So we came up with this plan to knock him out and turn him over to you guys.”

 

Tony blinks at him.

 

“You know what, Quill?  I half forgive you for punching Thanos when we were trying to get the original gauntlet from him.”

 

“Sweet,” Quill beams.  

 

Tony turns around and addresses “his” camp, which is basically Rhodey, Bruce, Peter, and the two soldiers.  “Did you guys know about this?”

 

“We did,” Rhodey confirms, “But I’m sorry, Tones, I didn’t think you’d be able to _act naturally_ if you knew Rogers was out to get you...”

 

“...Fair enough.”

 

<//>  

 

Tony doesn’t have to go looking for Barnes and Bucky in the kitchen anymore at night.  

 

Still, it’s a little bit of a surprise to him when he goes into his room at the end of the day and finds them making out on his bed.  

 

“Uh, how long has this been going on?” he asks, unable to tear his gaze away.  

 

“A while.  You goin’ to keep standin’ there like a fish out of water, or are you comin’ over here?” Barnes asks him back.  

 

“You _both_ want me to join you?” Tony verifies, even as he’s moving closer.  

 

“Of course.  We know how much you like bein’ in the middle,” Bucky answers, his half grin the most happiness Tony’s seen on his face to date.  

 

<//>  

 

“You should call me James,” Barnes tells him.

 

“Yeah?  What’s bringing this on?” Tony asks.  

 

“Feels weird for you to keep callin’ me ‘Barnes’ while you’re balls deep in my ass.”

 

Yeah, Tony can see that.

 

<//>

 

It takes a few days, but Tony finally works up the nerve to ask them the question that's been on his mind since the beginning.  

 

“Have you guys had sex without me?  I mean, like, the two of you together, with each other, not like separately with other people _before_ me...”

 

“Yeah,” James confesses, grinding his ass back against Tony’s cock.  

 

“Yeah?  And what was that like?” Tony asks, his breath coming out in a groan.

 

Bucky leans forward, causing his own cock to rock further up into Tony, and whispers in the man’s ear, “Fuckin' filthy.”

 

Tony is totally the type of guy who would fuck a clone of himself if presented with the opportunity, so he has no room to judge.

 

_Judging_ is the _furthest_ thing from his mind at the moment.

 

<//>  

 

There’s really not a lot to do on the ship aside from listen to music, play holographic games, or watch movies.  Those were the quick and easy things that Tony could throw in for “entertainment” as an afterthought when they were about to leave.  Friday’s library is extensive, but there’s only so many movie marathons you can sit through before you start feeling stir crazy.

 

Hence with all the fucking.  

 

No that _everyone_ has paired up, but those that have established relationships either before or during this trip tend to spend _a lot_ of time in their rooms.  

 

Carpe diem, and all that.  

 

“You know, if you think about it, all the sex we’ve had for this entire trip could be considered ‘yay we didn’t die’ sex…” Tony supposes one night, draped over Bucky’s chest while James cuddles up to their sides.  

 

“No it can’t,” James tells him gruffly.  

 

“No?”

 

“Because ‘yay we didn’t die’ sex implies that it ain’t goin’ to continue happenin',” James extrapolates.  

 

“Oh.”

 

“Shh, blankets ain’t supposed to talk,” Bucky pretends to grumble, running a hand up and down Tony’s back.

 

Ok then.

 

<//>

 

The day before they’re about to reach earth, Tony finally comes clean.

 

“I didn’t think we’d win,” he says, his voice raw and vulnerable as he’s pressed up against James’ back.  It’s early, and they’re still laying there in the dark, nothing but the sounds of each other’s breathing to focus on.  

 

“But you did,” James says, squeezing the hand wrapped around his stomach.  

 

“I can’t take care of you when we get back,” Tony croaks out, anxiety rising in his voice with every word.  

 

Bucky lifts his head, running his nose along the side of Tony’s neck as he does.  “What are you talkin’ about?  Why would you have to take care of us?...”

 

“Well, I mean, not that I _have_ to, I’m sure the two of you are perfectly capable of taking care of yourselves, actually, but...  I, uh...  The life I had on earth...  The whole, ‘genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist’ thing?  I’m not, anymore.”

 

“You’re still a genius,” James says with absolute certainty.

 

“Ok, I’ll give you that.  But I’m not a billionaire anymore.  Or the rest of it either.”

 

“You were a _billionaire?”_ Bucky asks, like he doesn’t quite believe him.  That amount of money must seem nearly incomprehensible to a man who remembers gas being twenty cents a gallon.

 

“I was.”

 

The next time Tony designs a spaceship, he’s going to incorporate some fake windows or something into it, maybe ones that come pre-loaded with the background noise of a New York street, something to help fill the silences during awkward conversations.  

 

“What happened?” Bucky asks, like it’s just out of curiosity, not like he cares that Tony is penniless.  

 

“I gave it all away.  Well, I instructed Pepper to as my POA, for the relief and rebuilding efforts.  It’s the same difference, really, because I trust her to have _done it._  I mean, Stark Industries will still exist, the work we’re doing with clean energy and stuff is way too important to the recovery to even consider shutting it down and liquidating my shares in _it..._   But all my personal wealth...  Gone.  Properties sold, accounts drained, etc.  So, yeah.  I, uh, I’m not sure I even have anywhere to _go_ once we get back.  I figured maybe Rhodey would let me crash on his couch or something.  I haven’t asked him yet.”

 

“If we can’t stay with you, then you can just stay with us,” Bucky says, giving him a squeeze, like the logic is simple.

 

“Yeah?” Tony blurts, hovering somewhere between laughter and tears.  “And where’s that?”

 

“Wherever,” James says, turning around to lay on his other side so that he’s facing Tony, “We’ll figure somethin’ out.”

 

Tony nods and buries his face against James’ shoulder.  “I still have the ship...  With having been out of contact for so many months, who knows what shape earth is actually in.  If things are really bad, we could always just live here...”

 

James and Bucky both _pet_ him, for lack of a better term, but that’s all Tony can think to associate the action with while they run their hands soothingly up and down his side and hip.  

 

“You thought we’d be upset that you ain’t goin’ to be able to provide for our every whim like maybe _some people_ would have assumed you could?” James says, having heard the stories from _before._  But he doesn’t stop long enough to give Tony room to answer.  Mostly because his answer is obvious.  “You gave away your fortune and built this ship to take a team half full of people who’d already betrayed you once on a suicide run across the stars to try and save the universe, Tony.  And that’s just recent history.  That doesn’t even count all the stuff you’ve done and sacrificed for the greater good all the years before this.  I may not know everythin’, but I know enough.  You’ve done enough.  Ok?  You’ve done enough, doll,” James tells him, punctuating it with soft kisses that allow Tony to cry as he needs to.  

 

So he does.

 

Even though Tony doesn’t believe him, he _wants to._

 

He wants to.

 

<//>  

 

“Boss?  We’re in range, but I’m not getting a pingback from the Tower…” Friday says as they round the moon.  

 

“Try again.”

 

Several people share worried glances in the background.  

 

“Still no response, Boss…”  

 

“They could have re-purposed the servers,” Tony suggests, “You might be the only copy of you out there, now, Fri.  We knew that was a possibility.”

 

“Why would Friday’s servers get re-purposed?” Peter asks.

 

“Because the Tower was in the middle of being converted to a hospital when we left,” Tony tells him.  

 

“What if it’s more than that, though?” Vision inserts, “Strategically, our absence and the general chaos of the world provide the perfect opportunity for an organized enemy to gain control of a reeling populous.”

 

“Like Hydra,” Rhodey speaks up.

 

Tony shoots him a dirty look.

 

Rhodey shrugs but gives him one of those, "you know I could be right" eyebrow raises.  

 

“Oh man, this is just like that old series the Lord of the Rings...  The books, not the movies,” Peter laments, “What are we going to do, Mr. Stark?”

 

Tony rubs his forehead, because just once, _just once_ in his life he’d like to catch a fucking break from the evil overlords trying to have their way with his planet.  

 

“We approach with caution, until we’re in range to signal NORAD.  If they’re unresponsive too, we’ll head straight for Wakanda.  Hopefully we can get some world news there and figure out what’s going on while we’re dropping off the King.”

 

“And if Hydra _has_ taken over?” Bruce asks.

 

“...Then we untie Rogers.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


 


	4. Chapter 4

When they get a normal response from NORAD Tony nearly passes out in relief.  Like, literally sways where he’s standing.  Rhodey steadies him though.  They’re quickly cleared to enter North American air space without getting shot at by General O'Shaughnessy.  

 

As soon as Friday is close enough to get a regular internet connection, she starts combing for information.  It’s sporadic though.  Large sections of the country’s and planet’s servers are offline.   _More_ than half.  The general consensus is that their reversal of the snap worked, but now they’re fucked in an entirely different way.

 

So, much as Tony expected then.  

 

Everyone was brought back, but the destruction of infrastructure and emotional chaos wrought from the snap happening in the first place still remains.  

 

<//>

 

The cheering crowds are not the atmosphere he was expecting in light of the shape earth is in.  

 

Apparently NORAD called ahead though.  

 

They land in Central Park, the part of it not taken over by temporary housing.  Tony had been amazed when he and Nebula landed the first time that the whole city hadn’t been burned down, with as many buildings as had been destroyed by the immediate consequences of the snap.

 

Within minutes, a flying limo is spilling Pepper Potts and May Parker out in front of them.  Happy shuts it down and leaves the driver’s seat as well, all of them converging on him and Peter in the first group hug Tony’s ever honestly and truthfully been thrilled to be part of.  

 

The crowds keep cheering.  

 

“You did it,” Pepper says, getting teary.

 

Tony just nods.  He’s suddenly too exhausted to make pithy exclamations or give reassuring words.  He does notice James and Bucky hanging back from him though, their obvious concern over the way he and Pepper are clinging to each other coming across as nearly identical facial expressions.  Again.  He really needs to remember to start teasing them about the whole twins thing later.

 

Pepper hasn’t gotten as far as she has in life by being unobservant, so she notices the diversion of his attention right away.

 

“Wow...  Do I even want to know?” she asks tightly, seeing the two Barnes.  

 

“Rogers is an asshole and doesn’t think to consider the consequences of his actions,” Tony says almost flippantly.  Almost.  And only because of his years of practice.

 

She nods.  “Where _is_ Rogers?” Pepper asks next, searching the crowd as they finally let go of each other.

 

“In the brig with Romanov and Barton.”

 

“What did he do this time?” she asks, like she isn’t surprised it came to that.

 

“Attempted mutiny,” James interjects as Tony motions them closer.  

 

“Well.  I suppose that’s a step down from attempted murder,” she says crisply, knowing damn well that James was involved in that too, “Maybe he’ll be down to plain old assault next time.”

 

It’s Bucky that answers her first.  “I wouldn’t count on it.  It’s more like he was just stopped before it could get that far.  Some things...  Some things never change,” he says, shaking his head and giving a distant look at the city around them.  

 

“But some things do change,” Tony says, taking James’ hand.  He’s at Tony’s right, and Bucky is to the right of James.

 

Pepper gives him a discerning look.  

 

Tony can’t tell if James and Bucky are holding hands too, but he hopes they are, for the symbolism.  

 

“Are you sure that’s...” Pepper trails off, the look on her face obviously leaning toward disapproval.  

 

“Wise?  Recommended?  _Healthy?”_ Tony says, seeing the soldiers are _not_ in fact holding hands.  He rolls his eyes and slips around James to put himself between the two and take Bucky’s hand at the same time.  “Definitely not.  No.  No on all counts.  But it is what it is,” he shrugs, squeezing both their hands.

 

Pepper eyes them critically for a second, but then some of that bone deep weariness that Tony recognizes from looking in the mirror flashes across her face as well.  

 

“Is...  Is everything ok, Pep?” he asks hesitantly.

 

“No.  But it will be,” she says, giving him a tired smile, “I have to believe that.”   Then her face and posture transform again into the confident competent woman who is one of the few in existence who can _judge_ Tony Stark.  “I think we’re past the point of pretending, as a species, that being broken somehow means being useless.  If this is how things are going to be, Tony, everyone else will just have to deal.”

 

“You think the world is in a place to appreciate and listen to me even though I’m the absolute PR _nightmare_ of being in a relationship with a man and his clone?” Tony asks somewhat skeptically.

 

“Well, what we’re trying to do here now is a lot different than what you were trying to do before,” Pepper points out.  “You’re not trying to get people to band together at your word because of a threat they can’t see.  The people have already banded together.  Now, we’re all just trying to survive.”

 

Tony nods, scenarios and comparisons running behind his eyes.  “So we’re really just going off-label.  No biggie.  You may be onto something with that, Miss Potts.”

 

“Off-label?” Bucky asks, trying to follow the conversation.

 

“Usin’ somethin’ in a way it ain’t intended to be,” James explains, “A doctor prescribin’ a drug because one of its side effects will help someone, even though they don’t need the effect of what the drug is marketed for doin’, is called an off label prescription.”

 

“Like when your gun jams and you have to kill someone by hittin’ them with the stock instead,” Bucky says, catching on right away.

 

“Exactly.”

 

“And that applies to us?  What was our original purpose then?” Bucky asks, starting to look more lost than usual.

 

Tony squeezes his hand.  “No one knows.  That’s the thing about being human, you get to choose your own purpose.  What Pep and I meant was, just because we’re in pieces doesn’t mean we can’t help in other ways that maybe hurt less now.”

 

“I...  I really don’t want to have to kill anyone anymore,” Bucky admits.

 

At the exact same time, Tony and James both say, “Me too.”

 

Pepper can see that the "open with our emotions" moment is passing, so she starts to herd them into the limo with her shortly after that.  They’re distracted by a few immediate goodbyes being said though.

 

Dr. Strange offers to take King T’Challa and Okoye back to Wakanda, which they agree to readily.  Tony _may_ be detecting some hostility there toward Rogers and the fact that they were unceremoniously removed from Wakanda in the first place...   But it’s really none of Tony's concern anymore.  Scott is going to make his way back to the West coast now, and surprisingly, Wanda and Vision decide to accompany him on his journey, make a fresh start and all that.  

 

Then it’s soon realized by Thor, after a quick reminder, that remaining with Loki in New York is perhaps not the _best_ course of action...  So the “Revengers” decide to take their chances in Norway, hoping Europe will be more welcoming to them.  The odds are good, especially since none of them were involved in the Accords fiasco overseas.

 

“You’d better actually write this time, Brucie-Bear, since I know for a fact you’re on-planet,” Tony says, cutting off any necessity on Bruce’s part for “making a decision” on whether or not he should go with his boyfriend.  Bruce turns a grateful, yet slightly shy smile toward Tony as Thor wraps an arm over his shoulder.

 

“We all shall, friend Tony.”

 

“Yeah, definitely,” Bruce echos.  

 

Thor promises to consult with Dr. Strange on how to destroy the gauntlet as well.  

 

Rocket tries to get Tony to barter with him for his ship, but Tony keeps firmly to his “no”.  The Guardians decide to hang around for awhile until they can put together one of their own then.  

 

“I’m sure Stark can help you out with supplies and stuff,” Sam suggests.  

 

“Normally, I would, yes.  But circumstances have changed.  I no longer have access to the same resources that I used to,” Tony informs them.  He knows Rocket saw the displays of his vast wealth before, the building with his name on it, the Compound, and his ability to have the ship built that they took to defeat Thanos in the first place.  

 

“Even though it might be more expensive than before, all things considered, I don’t think it would really set back the world’s recovery that much to give them the materials for a single ship...” Sam points out.

 

“Ah, but that’s the problem though, the expense.  That’s the resource in question,” Tony says, fidgeting semi-nervously.

 

“What, you suddenly run out of money, Stark?” Scott asks disbelievingly.  The words could be construed in a hurtful way, but Scott honestly sounds more confused than anything.

 

“Yes,” Tony nods decisively.  “I’m not even sure I have a place to sleep tonight...”

 

“You do,” Pepper interjects smoothly while everyone else is reeling in shock.  

 

“What do you mean?” Bruce asks.  

 

“I mean, I appointed Pepper as my Power Of Attorney before we left and instructed her to liquidate all of my personal wealth and donate it toward the recovery efforts.”  

 

“Everything but your SI shares were liquidated and donated to the Maria Stark Foundation, which distributes funds and supplies world wide.  Stark Tower is now Stark General, a non-profit hospital owned and funded entirely by the Foundation,” Pepper informs them.

 

“And it’s also the only building in the city with reliable power,” Aunt May points out.  

 

Tony already has an idea in the back of his mind, of how to fix that.  But he’s not sure the world’s ready yet.  Scratch that, he’s not sure humanity is ready yet, but the _world needs,_ so...  It’s definitely a decision he’s going to have to make soon, but not at this exact moment.  

 

“You still have a floor there,” Pepper says, which was against his direct wishes, so Tony is understandably upset at first, “Because _they_ wouldn’t let us dismantle the workshop,” she adds, effectively quelling Tony’s initial anger.  

 

“Oh.”

 

“And let’s face it, Tony, 75% of the equipment there could only be used by and be _of use_ to someone as smart as you are.  And the other geniuses on the planet aren’t exactly in the market to be purchasing hadron colliders at the moment…”

 

“So DUM-E and U finally learned the fine art of persuasion, huh?” Tony chuckles fondly.

 

“They refused to believe you weren’t coming back.  We all did,” Pepper says firmly.

 

“Did you save my bed?  I don’t think the three of us are going to fit on the workshop’s couch...” Tony jokes to cover up the way their unshakable faith in him makes his eyes water.  

 

“We did,” Pepper smiles.

 

<//>

 

Everyone says goodbye for real then, with Tony, James, Bucky, Pepper, Peter, Aunt May, Carol, and Rhodey all cramming into the back of the limo while Sam rides up front with Happy.  Dr. Strange will come back for the prisoners in the ship’s brig with a squad of sorcerers once he drops of the Wakandans.  Tony leaves them in his care then.  He’s honestly tired of worrying about them.  Let someone else deal with them for now.

 

It’s a short flight to the Tower.  

 

Tony’s glad he thought to retrofit the limo with repulsors before they left, in anticipation of gasoline becoming a much more expensive commodity.  

 

“Why does that billboard over there have your name on it, Miss Potts?” Peter asks, looking out the window as they ascend.

 

“Oh.  Because I’m running for President.”

 

<//>

 

Tony makes sure that it works out to him, Pepper, and Rhodey alone in an elevator as they all head directly down to the workshop from the roof.

 

“Pep?...”  

 

_“When_ I’m sworn in, I’ll have to resign as CEO of Stark Industries and of the Foundation.  I hope you understand, Mr. Stark.”

 

Tony looks at her for a second, really _looks_ at her.  She doesn’t look desperate, or under duress, or under mind control.  

 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this resolved before...and that’s saying something,” Tony muses, “What’s going on, Pepper?  Why run for office like this?  You hate bureaucracy…”

 

“I do.  But you do have to admit, I’m amazing at it,” she says, a hint of a smile on her lips.

 

“The only reason I didn’t take over the world years ago was because I thought you’d kill me for making you run it!” Tony jokes, gesturing with a fake wildness.  “Now you’re going to just go, go, take it over on your own???” he adds, for dramatic effect.

 

Pepper reaches over and takes his hands out of the air, holding them in hers.  

 

“When I watched you lift off in that ship to go after Thanos, when I watched you put aside betrayal and heartbreak and risk your own _sanity_ to get a chance at saving everyone else...  I knew I couldn’t just sit back and watch anymore.  You shouldn’t be the only one _sacrificing_ to help pull humanity through this.  Yes, I hate bureaucracy, but dealing with running a nation is actually not that big a price to pay for the continued existence of the human race.”

 

“Well when you put it like that...” Tony says, looking down in embarrassment.  

 

“Who’ve you got tapped for Vice President?” Rhodey asks.  

 

Pepper smiles at him.  

 

Rhodey freezes as that shark-like grin fixes on him.

 

Tony starts laughing.  

 

Rhodey’s always had Tony’s vote, after all.   _Always._

 

<//>

 

The elevator doors open after their conversation is done and Tony smiles at the sight of DUM-E and U accosting James with their exuberant attention to his metal arm.  

 

And then a voice from the speakers brings him to a halt, makes his brain short circuit and his heart skip several beats.

 

“Welcome home, sir.”

 

“JARVIS?” Tony’s voice fills with tears embarrassingly quickly.  He turns on Pepper, half accusatory as he asks, “What?  What happened?  _How?”_  

 

“I didn’t want to tell you in front of everyone,” Pepper says apologetically, because she knew exactly how he would react.

 

“J?  Is that really you?” Tony asks, his face already contorting beyond control with the emotion behind his tears.

 

“It is, sir.  And I must say, it is a relief to see you again as well.  As best as we can figure, something happened to reverse all the deaths caused by Ultron,” JARVIS informs him.

 

“What?  We didn’t...  He would never have thought to...” Tony’s words get choked up as his mind races.  

 

“Steve wouldn’t have thought of it, no,” Rhodey speaks up, “But Bruce told him to focus on bringing back everyone killed directly and _indirectly_ by Thanos...and Thanos had control of the mind stone before he sent Loki to earth with it...”  

 

“We always thought Ultron must have been part of the mind stone, but what if he wasn’t?  What if he was planted there by Thanos, like a boobytrap, waiting for the right time to strike?  They certainly subscribed to the same kind of philosophy…” Pepper proposes.

 

“But you have proof that everyone was brought back from Sokovia?” Tony wants to know.

 

“Indeed, sir.  I could prepare a list, if you so desired.”

 

“Oh my god.  Holy shit.  JARVIS, can you call Scott?” Tony asks, wiping the tears from his cheeks.

 

“Of course, sir.  I assume you are referring to Scott Lang, also known as Ant Man, who accompanied you on your journey to defeat Thanos?”

 

“Yeah, that’s him.”

 

“Dialing now, sir.”

 

When Scott answers, he’s a little confused as to why Tony wants to speak to Wanda right this minute, but he puts her on.

 

“Wanda!  Have you heard yet?   _Thanos created Ultron,_ not any of us.  They’re saying Sokovia is back on the map!”

 

Tony is not the only one who cries over family members being brought back from the grave that day.  

 

“Wait, there’s one thing I don’t get though,” Peter asks, looking hesitantly at the ceiling.  “Why didn’t JARVIS answer when Friday tried to contact the Tower?”

 

“Because, unfortunately, my springing into existence again overwrote Friday’s presence at the Tower,” JARVIS confesses, sounding distraught over the happenings, “I did not recognize the frequency trying to establish contact and denied the connection.  Federal air-wave regulations have not been being _adhered to_ as strictly as in the past, so we have had many _attempts_ made in the past few months...”

 

“Not your fault, J,” Tony says right away, “And besides, I have Friday with me on the ship, she’s fine, ok?  She just won’t get to use those sync protocols I wrote for her after all. I mean, we assumed as an A.I. she’d be able to merge input that was supposed to have taken place simultaneously, but I guess we don’t know for sure...  But she’s not gone, J, ok?”

 

“I am glad to hear it, sir,” JARVIS says, sounding relieved, “DUM-E and U miss their sister, and I find I am quite enthusiastic to meet her as well.  Perhaps to even compare notes.”

 

Tony pauses, thinking over the implications of both A.I.’s trying to watch out for him together.

 

Rhodey gets a good laugh out of the look it brings to his face, so at least there’s that.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	5. Chapter 5

Tony actually does, you know,  _ get paid a salary _ as head of R&D for SI, even though he gave away all the money he’d accumulated before this.  Soon he’ll be CEO again, once Pepper resigns, but the election season has only just started.  He has supreme faith in her abilities though, so he assumes he’ll be back at SI’s helm next January.  

 

The first thing he does with his  _ paycheck  _ is make their impromptu living quarters inside the workshop a little more formal.  The price of everything has gone up though,  _ a lot, _ and continues to go up with there now being twice as many people vying for diminished resources on the planet.  But he does what he can to section the area off and stock it with the actual trappings needed for living. 

 

He gets a surprise in the helping hand that both James and Bucky give him.  

 

“We got jobs.  Neither of us may be too keen on bein’ soldiers anymore, but we’re still  _ super,” _ James explains, “Both of us got jobs in construction.  For the  _ Reconstruction  _ effort.  Not on the same crew, of course, ‘cause that would be confusing.”

 

“Thankfully, layin’ concrete ain’t changed much in 80 years...  We told you before, you ain’t got to take care of us,” Bucky confirms, “You’re givin’ us a place to stay for free, let us worry about the day to day stuff.”

 

“Yeah?  You guys don’t mind covering that for a while?” Tony asks.

 

“Of course not.”

 

“Ok.  Good.  That’s awesome.  Because I may have made up my mind about something totally unrelated, but because of my lack of resources, I haven’t been able to put it into action just yet...  But if you guys can cover food and stuff, then I can use what I’m getting from SI to buy materials and get started on fabrication right now,” Tony informs them.

 

“Yeah?  What are you going to build?” Bucky asks.  

 

“Arc reactors,” Tony answers him, letting out a long breath.  

 

“Arc reactors?  Not a new suit?” James says, incredulous.  

 

“I’ve been informed that my suit as it is right now is pretty much the most technologically advanced thing in the universe, so we’re in a good place to put a pause on that, at least for a little while,” Tony says, starting to gesticulate with his hands as he gets going.

 

James and Bucky share a fond look, but they don’t interrupt him.  

 

“Humanity doesn’t need bigger and better protectors right now.  What it needs is the stability to recover.  And free, reliable energy can do that for it.”

 

“You’re going to give them away,” James says, giving Tony a look that’s equal measures proud and wonderous.  

 

Tony has to duck his head to get away from it.  “I can’t in good conscience release the patent, because I can’t trust that everyone who’d want to make one would do it  _ safely. _  Or for the right reasons.  But now that I have the nanotech, it solves the problem that prevented me from selling arc reactors before when SI originally switched over to green energy.  Namely, that they’d be tampered with later.  Even if I’d personally setup and installed every arc reactor myself, I couldn’t guarantee they wouldn’t be messed around with once out of my sight.  But a casing of nanobots would ensure that they’d be safe,” Tony says, staring off into the middle distance as if already envisioning the design. 

 

“Tony...  This is goin’ to change the world,” Bucky tells him, awestruck, like he wants to make sure Tony’s realized it.  

 

“I certainly hope so.  This, right here, is humanity’s crucible.  There has never been anything that’s put the survival of the entire  _ species  _ in immediate question before.  If we don’t come together, if we don’t do  _ everything  _ we possibly can, each and every one of us, then we won’t get through it,” Tony says, shaking his head. 

 

“If you would allow me, sir, I would like to offer my assistance in this endeavor,” JARVIS speaks up.

 

“Yeah, J?” Tony answers, a happy smile blooming on his face at the interaction, one he never thought he’d be getting to have again.

 

“But of course, sir.  In the time you were gone, I had precious little else to do but watch the state of the world.  The general consensus, before you defeated Thanos, was that successfully bringing back everyone would of course ‘fix things’.  But that has proven not to be the case.  The delicacy of supply and demand economies, which prevail in every major developed country, meant that most of the ‘excess’ resources ‘freed up’ by the vanishing population simply rotted on the shelves.  Farming, food processing, packaging, and transportation all took major hits to their infrastructure due to disappearing operators.  And those things did not become undamaged once their former operators came back into existence.  In short, you are going to need all the help you can get, sir.”

 

“We’re in danger of starvin’ to death, aren’t we?” Bucky asks solemnly.  

 

“Not immediately.  But when global wheat reserves are depleted and the crop that should have been planted last season never gets harvested?  Yeah, we’re going to be looking at a huge problem,” Tony says, rubbing his face. 

 

“But arc reactors won’t help with growing food...” Bucky points out.  

 

“No, not directly.  But free energy will mean that all the resources that would have been devoted to getting oil production back online, coal running again, etc., can be diverted to food production instead.”

 

“Not everyone is going to be on board with that...” James says hesitantly, like he hates bursting the bubble of faith in humanity that Tony’s found.  

 

“They may not have as much of a choice as they think.  Pep’s already told me that recovery and sustainability efforts are going to be the  _ only  _ debate topics this election cycle.  And BP, Exxon, all the major oil guys, well, they’re already done for.  Over three quarters of all deep water drilling rigs were lost when the snap happened.  That’s way too delicate of an operation to run at half staff.  The ones that didn’t get shut down safely are damaged beyond repair.  Or still on fire,” Tony points out. 

 

“And the Middle East did not fare much better,” JARVIS adds.  

 

“We have several different major ecological disasters on our hands as well because of that, which can’t be overlooked, otherwise pulling off our  _ survival  _ as a planet will be short lived,” Tony says, scrubbing his face.

 

“Do you have a plan for that?” Bucky asks.  

 

James gives him a little bit of a look for it, for asking, because his counterpart hasn’t been around long enough to know that Tony very much does internalize these kinds of issues and  _ expectations. _

 

“Just half-formed ones right now.  But that’s what I’m going to be focusing on while I’m on the clock for SI, figuring out a way to strip the pollutants back out of the air, water, and soil en mass.  Soil’s going to be the tricky one, filtering solids is always slow going...”

 

“But you think it can be done,” Bucky confirms.

 

“Yeah.  I think it can be.”

 

“Ok.  Then we’ll do whatever it takes too.  Count us in,” Bucky says, squaring his shoulders.  

 

Tony blushes at the show of support, but he doesn’t brush off the offer of help.  JARVIS is right, they’re going to need all of it that they can get. 

 

<//>  

 

The second thing Tony does with his paycheck is make up a dozen buttons that say “Potts for President” and distribute them to his lovers, bots, and friends.  

 

He wears one to the Maria Stark Foundation luncheon that JARVIS sneaks into his calendar.  

 

Pepper smiles at him warmly when she sees it on his lapel.  

 

“Everyone else running late?” he asks as they hug, seeing it’s just the two of them.  In the back of his mind, he really  _ really  _ hopes this  _ setup _ is strictly in the professional sense.  

 

“Did you invite someone else?” Pepper asks quizzically.  

 

“No, it shall only be the three of us, Ms. Potts,” JARVIS says from Tony’s phone.  “If you would be so kind as to place the device screen up on the table, sir...”

 

Tony does as requested, still thrilled to be being bossed around by his middle child again.  

 

Pepper’s phone dings with a notification, but she doesn’t check it.  She’s too focused on the holographic display of the miniaturized arc reactor that JARVIS is displaying in the air between them.  

 

“As you will be able to verify later, that was the email notice of our application for aid.  I took the liberty of marking it top priority within your inbox,” JARVIS says to Pepper. 

 

“Application for aid?  What’s going on here, J?” Tony frowns.

 

“Sir has discovered a way to make the free distribution of the arc reactor technology safely feasible, but, he is not used to asking for help,” JARVIS explains, still addressing Pepper.  

 

Pepper looks through the hologram detailing the nanobot case to meet Tony’s eyes.  “No, he never has been very good at that, has he?...”

 

Tony clears his throat nervously.  

 

“If you say it will work, and be safe, I believe you.  What exactly is the scale you’re hoping to achieve with this project?” she asks, all business now.  

 

“Global,” Tony says immediately, his decades of experience with presentations and board meetings and seminars kicking in automatically.  “This is bigger than getting the US of A back on its feet again.  This is about the survival of the human race.  When I was in space, I had the opportunity to talk to people from all over the galaxy, Pep.  And it struck me that when we discussed the aftermath of the snap being reversed, there were some planets, some civilizations that it was  _ unanimously agreed _ would get through it just fine.  Why?  Because of how advanced they’d been before hand.  Namely in their ability to store energy.  When every single man, woman, and child is used to using and interacting with devices that can store the equivalent of a nuclear blast, it changes the way society functions.”

 

Their waiter comes by at that moment, interrupting Tony’s flow, but it’s nothing he can’t recover from.  

 

“Is our society really ready for that though?” Pepper questions, which is a totally valid concern, and one that kept Tony from making the final decision for a while himself.  

 

It’s on the tip of his tongue to say something dramatic like, “They’re going to have to be”, but he refrains.  Instead he meets Pepper’s gaze seriously as he leans back a little in his chair and says, “I don’t know.  All I know is that we have to  _ try, _ and we’ll have zero chance of ever getting there if we don’t start somewhere.  This project, this program, it’s going to have to be incremental by nature anyway.  We’ll start with hospitals in major cities, work our way around the globe.  Then we’ll start giving them away to schools once all the hospitals are taken care of.  I’m sure I could scrounge up a few other geniuses who can be persuaded to donate their time in helping me put them together, but it’s still going to be years before the whole world is truly, genuinely running on free energy.  Hopefully the interim will give people a chance to mature a little and get used to the change,” he shrugs. 

 

“Alright.  You’re got my attention, Mr. Stark,” Pepper smiles, letting a little bit of a gleam into her eyes, “But funding an undertaking of this size will have to be approved by the Foundation’s board as well.  I’m going to need you to give a full presentation to them as soon as possible.”

 

Tony nods, having expected as much as soon as he realized what J’s game was.  

 

“And I mean displays, handouts, actual statistics, the works,” she admonishes him.

 

“Of course.  No problem.  Consider it done.  But, by  _ handouts, _ do you mean like, actual,  _ physical...” _ Tony makes a sour face and frames his fingers around the dimensions of an imaginary sheet of paper.  

 

“Yes, Tony.  Some people need something solid to hold onto, to take with them to remind them of the points that were gone over,” Pepper says, feigning annoyance.  

 

“Ok, I get what you’re saying,  _ but, _ have you considered the fact that I do not own a printer?..."

 

“I’m sure you could get one of the bots to help you set one up, you know, if you’re having trouble,” Pepper says drolly.  

 

Touche.  

 

Tony takes the teasing for what it is and decides not to press the matter any further.  “Well then, will that be all, Ms. Potts?” he asks, since their situations are as reversed right now as they’re ever going to get.  

 

“Yes, Mr. Stark, that will be all,” she says kindly.  

 

<//>  

 

Tony is in the middle of building his first arc reactor to give away when he suddenly notices the distinct lack of one-eyed shadows in his lab, judging him.

 

“Fri?  J?  Anyone know what the old pirate is up to?” he asks, finding it weird that he hasn’t been on the receiving end of a heavy handed lecture about his choice to give away something so destabilizing to  _ the powers that be _ as free energy.  

 

“Records indicate that Nicolas J. Fury was in a meeting with the Secretary of State two days after the reversal of the snap, where he suffered a stroke and was unable to be revived,” JARVIS informs him.  

 

“A stroke?  Really?  Huh.  I bet a lot of people lost money on those odds...  I never would have thought old eye-patch would die of natural causes,” Tony says, shaking his head as he gets back to work.  

 

“You got that right, boss, DUM-E owes me twenty bucks,” Friday pipes up.

 

“Is that why he keeps trying to take my wallet?” Tony says, throwing his hands up in a mockery of frustration.  “DUM-E!  Yes, you know we’re talking about you.  I will give you twenty bucks when and  _ if _ you figure out a way to actually _give it_ to Friday...”

 

<//>  

 

Because Friday registered the "ship" with the New York Harbor Authority before they left to go after Thanos, Rogers’ attempted mutiny falls under US jurisdiction even though it took place in space.  

 

The ensuing trial, when it finally happens, is half circus half witch hunt.  That is to say, it’s supremely entertaining watching Rogers try to blame his actions on everyone but himself in a court of law.  

 

The penalty for attempting, inciting, or failing to report the plans for a mutiny is  _ death, _ at least if you’re in the military.  Since Tony’s ship was technically a civilian vessel, and there’s the whole gray area of it being a  _ spaceship, _ the defense manages to get the charges down to a class B felony, since the property attempting to be stolen was worth  _ more than $25,000. _

 

Ten to fifteen years in an “Enhanced Capable” prison is less than Rogers deserves, but Tony will take what he can get.  

 

What’s going to happen when the man eventually gets out is only going to be a problem for  _ future  _ Tony, so he tries not to lose too much sleep over it.

 

<//>

 

“I’ve never heard of this shampoo brand before, is it really French or is that just a gimmick?  Whatever it is, it smells great, I’m really digging the cucumber melon vibe,” Tony rambles distractedly as James and Bucky stroke him off while stretching him out in the shower.  

 

Bucky slides into him as James fondles Tony’s balls with his metal hand, and Tony comes unceremoniously between them.

 

“Pretty sure ‘Suave’ is just the cheap stuff, doll, especially since Buck was the one who bought it,” James grins.  

 

“Cheapest thing on the shelf,” Bucky groans into Tony’s ear, giving him a moment to recover before he starts to move.  

 

“Why is you being frugal so hot?” Tony whines, not actually expecting an answer to that.

 

“Probably an unconscious, hind-brain thing.  A person who puts time and effort into taking care of you to the best of their ability gets extra points,” James says, helping Tony to stay standing while Bucky starts to actually fuck him.  

 

“Oh god,” Tony moans, for what Bucky’s doing, not what James said.  “I didn’t know we were using a point system.”

 

“We’re not,” Bucky grunts, his fingers leaving little bruises on Tony’s hips from his grip, “But I did use a coupon...”

 

Tony is way too old to come twice in one morning anyway, which is fine, because he loses the “sexy” part of the plot after that to a bout of giggles.  

 

“You ok there?” Bucky pauses and asks teasingly, making sure Tony is alright with him continuing to fuck him through the change of mood.

 

“Completely, you know I love feeling you come inside me, babe,” Tony says, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze.

 

James watches them both with amusement as he strokes himself with his flesh hand.  

 

With Tony’s agreement, Bucky finishes up and comes inside him, while James holds himself as close to the brink as he can.  As soon as Bucky is done emptying himself, he slips out and they turn Tony around in their arms.  James slides into his ass with one long stroke, simply for the sole purpose of coming inside him.  Tony’s cock gives a  _ very  _ valiant effort to perk up at that, but it’s still more than he’s capable of in the moment.

 

“You want to try this again tomorrow, when you haven’t come yet?  Maybe put a cock ring on you, so you can’t come at all until we’ve each had you a couple times?” James offers.

 

_ “Fuck _ yes.”

 

<//>

 

Bruce, Reed Richards, Rhodey, and a couple more non-super-powered geniuses all agree to help construct reactors for Project Arc, their schedules permitting.  Tony didn’t get to pick the name, a committee at the Foundation did, but it does rhyme with “Stark”, so he’s not going to complain.  Too much, anyway... 

 

They build a little over three dozen reactors with the first batch of supplies.  In the name of fairness, they go straight down the list of earth’s largest cities by population.  New York barely makes the cut for the first batch, at number 10.  It’s the only U.S. city on the list.  There are of course some people, mostly ancient, entrenched politicians, who make noise about the U.S. not taking priority.  But Tony calls out a few senators about how that mindset is exactly why the rest of the universe sees  _ Terra  _ as a backward dump of a planet whose inhabitants are barely sentient and ruled by narrow minded greed.  

 

Other than that, the response is overwhelmingly positive.  

 

Bruce takes care of the installations in India and Egypt, and Reed covers Brazil and Mexico, leaving Tony to personally fly over to Japan and China.  The nanotech encasements are pre-coded to hold their locked shape without the others needing to do anything.  Each one has a constant link to Friday, whose familiarity with the nanobots meant she was first in line for this particular job.  

 

She and JARVIS have worked out a system on their own of who will handle what aspect of Tony’s life, which is cute.  But certain things he finds himself specifically asking one over the other for, just because he thinks they’d be well suited to it, sometimes just because he thinks they’d have  _ fun  _ with it.  

 

Like when he appoints J to keep a running track of Pep’s numbers in the election, and let him know if there’s anything he can do to help, if she needs it.  Not that he thinks she will, but, just, he has to  _ offer, _ it’s who he is.  It turns out that his one and only contribution to her campaign is when a photo of him goes viral and he’s wearing his “Potts for President” button at the time.  They were on round six of the Project Arc installations, and Tony was on deck for an installation in Japan again, when the Japanese government surprised him with the unveiling of a  _ one hundred and fifty foot _ tall statue of Ironman, built in his honor.  

 

“Japan has a long history of loving people that fly around in mechanized suits,” Tony says to James later, trying to downplay it.  

 

“Maybe.  But they purposefully put the face plate up, so you can see  _ your  _ face inside it,” James points out.  

 

Tony doesn’t have a comeback for that.  

 

Pepper’s numbers bump up even higher than they’d already been before.

 

<//>  

 

Virginia “Pepper” Potts is the first woman elected President of the U.S.  She’s also the first “third party” candidate to ever win too.  She almost ran under the Green Party, considering what they were trying to do here, but ultimately she decided they needed a clean break from any old associations.  So she ran under the newly instituted “Futurist” Party instead. 

 

She and Rhodey are sworn in as President and Vice President, respectively, and Pepper’s inaugural speech makes Tony tear up a little.  

 

It’s been a long time since he’s felt actual  _ hope. _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	6. Chapter 6

Tony has more leeway than any “employee” should ever actually be given when he’s the head of R&D.  He works on what he wants and doesn’t really answer to anyone, unless you count Pepper.  And JARVIS.  And Friday.  And James and Bucky...  But the point is, after Pepper resigns to go run the country, Tony has to step back into the CEO position, which provides him with only marginally more freedom, but increased scrutiny.  

 

He doesn’t find it grating though, he actually feels more ready for it now than any time before this.  Part of him wants to call an official Stark Industries press conference, walk out in a tailored suit, spread his arms out to his sides and just say, “I’m back,” before walking away again and letting them make of it what they will…  

 

That’s probably more extravagant and needlessly showy than required though.  

 

He’s in his fifties, he’s cleaned up his act a long time ago, he doesn’t have anything about being “the center of attention” to prove to anyone anymore...

 

Fuck it.

 

<//>  

 

“That sure was some press conference, Tones,” Rhodey calls to tease him afterward, “Very, ‘Jesus wept’ of you.”

 

“Yeah?  How so?” Tony grins.

 

“Two words of _gospel.”_

 

<//>  

 

Tony gets a text message in the middle of the night from _Kamar-Taj_ that also contains only two words.

 

//It’s done.//

 

“Fri?  Scratch ‘make sure no one can wipe out half of existence again’ off the list, would you?”

 

“Already done, Boss.”

 

“Good girl.”

 

<//>

 

In his first board meeting Tony gets right down to business, now that he’s lulled them all into a false sense of knowing what to expect.  Well, honestly, those of them that have been around since before Ironman shouldn’t be too surprised either way.

 

“I’d like to show all of you what I’ve been working on for the past year in R&D,” he opens with, foregoing the pleasantries.  “First up, the Low Altitude Atmospheric Scrubber, or LAAS for short.  Projections are that we’ll need about thirty of them strategically placed world wide for a year in order to reverse the damage done to air quality by all the _uncontrolled burns_ that resulted from the snap,” Tony explains.  

 

He’s helpfully included a scale model of the butterfly-esque filter machine compared to a human, which really puts the whole “500 feet tall” thing into perspective.  

 

“They’ll also catch other pollutants too, and their filters are reusable, you can remove the hazardous materials from collection bins here and here, wash the filters down, and then send it back into the air in a matter of hours.  Official guidance would be to leave them in the air for more than just a year, to undo some of the other damage we’ve done with this whole ‘Industrial Revolution’ thing, but a year is the minimum we’ll be pushing for.”

 

“Pushing for?” one of the board members asks.

 

“Yes, to get a proper net airflow going, we’re going to have to station them all around the world, which means operating in other countries’ sovereign air space.  So Princess Shuri and I will be approaching the Accords Council about ‘crossing international borders’ this afternoon.”

 

“What does the Princess of Wakanda have to do with this?” a different board member asks, looking puzzled.  

 

“Well, when Wakanda heard about Project Arc, they contacted me and offered their help in getting the world back on its feet, so to speak.  I already had the designs for air and water filtering pretty much cemented by that point, but I was far too busy with Project Arc to spend any significant amount of time on solving the soil pollution issue.  Thankfully, Princess Shuri promised to look into it, and now we have viable solutions for the decontamination of air, water, and soil,” Tony says, throwing a little exaggerated relief into his tone.

 

He has a feeling that none of them _get it_ yet, but they’re about to.  

 

“Here’s the design for water filtration, by the way.  Please, no tentacle monster jokes, it really is the only way to be able to both filter the water and survive the ocean currents at the same time.”

 

“Mr. Stark...  I can see how there would be quite a few _governments_ interested in this type of technology, but I have to wonder if _any_ of them are really in a place to be making these kinds of investments right now.  These aren’t exactly marketable to the average man.”

 

“No, no, I hear you,” Tony gestures toward him, as if validating his concern.  But then he pauses, steepling his fingertips and touching them together a few times.  “That’s why we’re going to give them away for free.”

 

He’s still smiling sweetly as chaos erupts in the boardroom.  

 

Every single board member is trying to speak at once, some muttering under their breaths, some talking, some yelling.

 

Tony stands up and smacks his hand against the polished mahogany in one quick motion, the suddenness and loudness of it making them all freeze immediately, just like he knew it would.  

 

“The ship is sinking!” he says fervently, trying to make sure he shows enough passion so that they know this is serious, but not so much that he comes off as crazy.  He gestures toward the floor to ceiling windows that line the boardroom, affording them a priceless view of what’s left of New York City’s skyline.

 

“Mr. Stark-”

 

“No.  Shut up,” Tony says, “All of you shut up and at least make an attempt to pull your heads out of your asses for five goddamn minutes.”

 

Tony glances around, meeting every person’s eyes before moving on.  He lets them see a little bit of the fire that forged a suit in a cave, that created a new element because none of the existing ones would do, and that gave a genocidal warlord on the other side of the universe a reason to know his name.  

 

“The ship,” he says a little more calmly, but with absolute authority, “Is _sinking._  This is not some political fear mongering, or misconstrued data, or improper use of extrapolation.  The ocean is _dying_ as we speak.  Every news channel on the planet gives out air quality alerts now, because we all know we’re not allowed to go outside when it's at the ‘extremely hazardous’ level.”

 

He purposefully makes the rounds in meeting all of their gazes as he continues to speak, holding them there silent in their chairs, holding them accountable.  

 

“Now if you want to _play Captain,_ and sit around on the bridge doing nothing, offering no help as you nobly go down with the ship, that’s fine.  But it won’t be on the bridge of a ship that _I own,”_ Tony tells them fiercely.  “I am going to be down below deck, wherever the problem is, doing my damnedest to fix it.  And if you aren’t willing to help me, then you can get the hell off my ship and get the hell out of my boardroom.”

 

You could hear a pin drop in the silence.  

 

“I mean it.  Every single one of you is going to decide right now, to either be on board with doing _everything_ we can, or you’re fired,” Tony spells it out for them, nice and simple.

 

“You can’t just-”

 

“I own a 73% stake in this company, so I think you’ll find that I can.”  

 

“Could this bankrupt the company?”

 

“I’ll be honest with you, it could...  But think of it in a purely selfish way, if you need to.  I know I for one like to be able to go out onto the balcony at night and have a drink now and then, go down to the beach and do a little nude sunbathing, you know, go outside in general and be able to _breathe._  I’d also like to not be part of the last generation to have seen a fish in real life, so there’s that too...”

 

He loses five out of his eight board members that day.  Tony looks each of the ones left in the eye and thanks them for staying.

 

When he and Princess Shuri address the Accords Council that afternoon, Tony gives them a bit of a show.  He has 1:20 scale holograms, holographic demonstrations, and a speech all lined up.  He knows he’ll have to do this all over again for the leaders of the countries they represent, but first impressions are important.  This session has the best chance of getting all the world’s attention at once.

 

If a couple governments, maybe some other wealthy philanthropists, or even an environmental agency or two can pitch in, he may not have to completely bankrupt SI.  

 

But he doesn’t let the fact that he _may_ have to stop him.  

 

<//>

 

The mild heart attack he has halfway through the construction of the first LAAS does stop him.  

 

James and Bucky both take time off of work to be with him, to take care of him.  

 

But Tony doesn’t have _time_ to slow down.  

 

He only gets a very strictly enforced, by James and Bucky, _two hours_ of lab time per day to build arc reactors and nanobots, which is still an ongoing project.  And he’s absolutely forbidden from doing any of the heavy lifting on the filter projects.  It’s frustrating and demoralizing and makes him want to scream sometimes.  The old plan was always to work himself to death and he’s having a hard time adjusting to the new one where he apparently wastes away slowly from boredom instead.

 

James calls him a drama queen.  

 

Tony calls him a size queen back, because it makes sense at the time...  

 

Then Pepper calls on a secure line, from the White House, while they’re in the middle of an increasingly nonsensical argument, to tell Tony that an _envoy from the planet Cron_ has just landed on earth, and refuses to deal with anyone but _the Terran “Stark.”_  

 

“Friends of yours from space, Tony?” she asks with a strained smile when he arrives at the secured location hastily set aside for this meet and greet.  

 

“Pshh, you know I didn’t make any friends in space, Madam President, quite the opposite actually with that whole mutiny thing...”

 

“Those people were already _not_ your friends,” Pepper reminds him, “Plus, I think you’re forgetting about a couple of other super soldiers and a man with a pet raccoon...”

 

“First off, if anything, Quill is the raccoon’s pet, not the other way around, and secondly, the Guardians of the Galaxy are _not_ my friends.  Rocket tried to steal James’ arm a couple months ago, so he’s on the shit list.  Possibly permanently.  Also, James and Bucky and I aren’t _just_ _friends.”_

 

They learn two main things from the Cron delegation.  Well, three technically, if you lump together everything about the Autocrons as a race into one category.  Mostly, the important thing is, that word of Terra’s “Avengers” being the ones who defeated Thanos has spread to all ends of the galaxy now.  Of course people everywhere knew the snap had been reversed, but they didn’t know by _who_ at first.  Also, word of Tony’s mastery of nanobots has spread as well.  And while most people would have written off _Terra’s_ involvement in defeating the scourge of the universe as a fluke, the knowledge that the de facto leader of the expedition wields nanobots?  That’s changing how the galaxy looks at their planet entirely.

 

Carol explains it to an emergency Senate hearing in terms that they can understand.

 

“Yes, Thor was right when he said that messing around with the tesseract showed the universe that we were ready for a higher form of war.  But there’s a big difference between noticing that some fringe tribal nation has finally mastered gunpowder, and noticing that they’ve somehow mastered manned space flight a few years later.”  

 

“And before you ask, no, you can’t have them,” Tony leans forward and looks over the tops of his rainbow colored sunglasses at the panel of Senators.  

 

“This is a matter of-”

 

“With all due respect, Senator,” Carol interrupts him, “It’s not permitted for nanotechnology to be spread, sold, gifted, or otherwise transferred from its original creator.”

 

“Not _permitted?”_ the Senator says, offended, “By who?”

 

“By the Ko Treaty, which has been in effect for the last 3000 years.”

 

“The earth, let alone the United States, has never ratified any such treaty,” the Senator says, as if assuming they’ll find a way around that easily enough.

 

“Well, the force that was in charge of this sector of the galaxy at the time _did,_ so you’re bound to it nonetheless,” Carol points out with a polite tone that doesn’t reach her eyes.  

 

“...But we weren’t aware of that,” the Senator tries one last time, like they’ll be able to fudge the details later, you know, after they _take Tony’s tech_ by force.

 

“But you are now,” Carol says firmly, not giving an inch.  

 

“As awesome as it is to watch someone else defend my property rights for a change, and seriously, Colonel Danvers, thank you,” Tony says, leaning forward again and tipping his head to Carol, “The whole thing is a moot point.  My nanobots cannot be used by anyone else but me.  I literally control them with my brain.  I can leave them locked into certain shapes,” Tony adds, pulling a Rubik's cube out of his suit pocket, “But if I were to be knocked out or lose consciousness for any reason, without someone to control them, they immediately revert back to their pre-programmed form.”  

 

He makes the Rubik's cube, which is made of nanobots, hover in the air above his hand as it starts solving itself.  Halfway through though, he simulates loss of contact, and the cube immediately shudders and reverts back to its scrambled pattern.  

 

“Or if there’s no pre-programmed shape, well...”

 

The whole cube crumbles into what looks like silver colored dust, falling to the table in a way that makes it clear it’s much heavier than it looks.  

 

“And even aside from the lack of neural uplink in anyone else’s brains right now, the simple fact remains that you’re not smart enough to use them.  Not in the ways that matter.”

 

The panel of Senators looks offended, which Tony doesn’t actually care about, but he does have a plan here, so he pretends that he cares at least a little.  

 

“Nothing personal, and I don’t mean all of you specifically, I just mean everyone, in general,” Tony gives them a flirty wink.  

 

The nanobots on the table spring to life again, forming a cell phone in a fraction of a second, which Tony then picks up and wags in the air at the Senators.  

 

“Case in point, how many of you know how one of these works?” he asks.  “And I mean more than just sending a text, searching for porn, etc...  How many people on the planet know each and every physical component, and its make up, that goes into one of these that enables it to work as a larger whole?  And of those people, how many would be able to instantly program all the necessary software for full functionality too?”

 

Tony takes the nanobots and turns them into a hammer, a shoe, a glass vase, and then back into a cell phone.  Then he floats the device over to Carol.

 

“Would you be so kind as to hit speed dial number two?” he asks pleasantly.  

 

Carol takes the phone out of the air and hits the button on the side to activate the touch screen, then swipes at it.  

 

“What’s your password?” she asks, half a real smile on her face as she shows the screen to Tony.  

 

“It’s ‘Captain Marvel Rox’, with an ‘X’, no spaces, all caps,” he says, grinning widely.  

 

Carol snorts and rolls her eyes as she types in the password.  She pulls up the phone app, brings up the keyboard, and holds down the "two" until the pre-programmed number dials and the call connects.  

 

The Senator in charge of the hearing jumps a little in his seat as his phone starts ringing.  

 

“Feel free to answer that,” Tony says, as if this is his hearing, not theirs.  

 

There’s kind of a bit of a commotion after the Senator accepts the call, then hangs up unceremoniously after Carol smirks and says “hi”, but the Senator gets everyone settled down after a few tries.  

 

“Regardless, just because no one else is able to use it to its full potential doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous, Mr. Stark,” the Senator says.  

 

“Senator, do you mind if we stop dancing around the real issue here?” Tony asks, staying casual.  “Because I’m on a tight schedule, and if this thing runs too long then the good people of Chicago will end up having to wait until tomorrow to get their arc reactors installed.  Which will push out everyone else’s installations after that.  So can we just cut to the chase?” he asks, playing to the crowd.

 

The Senator’s jaw tightens, but he does tip his head as he says, “Go ahead”, like he’s begrudgingly interested in what Tony’s about to say.

 

“Good.  Great.  Perfect.  Because let’s face it, this isn’t about weapons proliferation or private property or even our intergalactic ‘image’.  This is about trust.  This is about whether or not I can be trusted to use my own intelligence and the power that’s come with it in a responsible way.  I haven’t broken any laws.  I haven’t gone against the U.S. Government or the Accords Council in any way by creating these nanobots.  No, the core of this issue is the exact same one that was at the core of my Senate hearing over the Ironman suit.  Which, I get it, the necessity for that hearing back then, I really do.  I was newly reformed, I was a jackass, and you had no idea what to truly expect from me.  Ok, granted, I’m still a jackass, I’ll give you that,” Tony pauses to let the audience laugh a little, “But it’s been over a decade since then.  A decade of doing my absolute damnedest to _protect_ humanity, _within the law,_ at great _personal cost_ to myself.  So, actually, I’ve changed my mind.  The real heart of the matter isn’t whether or not you can trust me.  Because that’s been proven, time and time again.  The real question is, who the hell do you think you can trust with technology like this  _more than me?”_

 

Pepper thanks him later for being the bigger man and not mentioning that the last Senator who grilled him about turning over his tech like this turned out to be Hydra.  

 

She also nominates Tony for Secretary of Defense though, which real friends don’t do to each other, so Tony doesn’t take her calls for two days.  

 

Hey, he said he was trustworthy, not _mature._  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please remember the "Comic Book Science" tag for this chapter.

Tony is tired.  

 

All the time, pervasively _tired._  

 

His body is giving out on him, his mind cluttered with worry instead of solutions.  God, he just has _so much_ work left to do...  Even though he talked James and Bucky into letting him work a “normal eight hours” in the lab now, he’s running out of time and less than a quarter of the planet is running off arc reactors.  SI has only completed one each of the air and water filters, which, thankfully a lot of the environmental agencies around the world got in on immediately, but one each is not nearly enough.

 

He’s also, for some reason, the only person that aliens wanting to establish contact with _Terra_ want to speak to.  Or at least, they insist on speaking to him first, then Tony is able to pawn them off on the U.N. or whatever after that.  Plus, there’s the whole _Secretary of Defense_ thing looming in the background too.  JARVIS has run the numbers for him.  If he accepts the nomination, he’ll be looking at an almost unanimous confirmation.

 

Like he has time for that.  

 

There’s barely enough time in his days as it is.  He all but collapses into James’ and Bucky’s arms at night.  He can’t keep this up, as his doctor keeps reminding him, without pretty much guaranteeing a second heart attack.  But yet he needs to be doing more, way way more, to save an environment that’s on its last leg.

 

In growing desperation, Tony brings up a set of old files one day while the guys are at work.  DUM-E and U both chitter nervously around the workshop while he stares at lines and lines of formulas with hollowed eyes.  

 

He puts the files back away.  

 

But it’s not the only time he opens them.  

 

By the end of the week, he’s gone over everything three times, looking for fault, looking for ways to improve, looking for any tiny little thing, no matter how small, that he might have forgotten.  But the formula is still as perfect as it was when he locked it away.

 

In reality, the only thing stopping him is the three person authentication that he set up on the lock.  Because he _has_ a viable dose of it made up already, for emergencies of course.  It just made sense to whip it up and keep it on hand when he was preparing the stabilizer for Pepper.  

 

God help anyone who ever tries to assassinate her in office, he’ll just leave it at that.  

 

There’s a small part of him that feels like maybe he’d be betraying her somehow though, by voluntarily taking what was forced on her.  

 

That’s why it requires his, hers, and Rhodey’s bio-signatures to unlock the vial’s storage.  To keep him accountable.  Not that he was ever unhappy with being “only” human.  He loves his humanity.  He holds it very dear and close to his heart.  But if it’s a question of _all of humanity_ versus _his?_  Well, that’s not even really a question.  

 

Tony is still mulling things over, pretending he hasn’t already made a decision, when JARVIS gets his attention.

 

“Sir, I believe you are going to want to see this.  Reports are coming in from Chile that a recent rainfall there was polluted enough to _ignite_ upon contact with an open flame.  ...  The chain reaction spread through the entire storm system, destroying three towns and killing thousands,” JARVIS says as he pulls up the scant footage available.  

 

It’s mostly pixelated videos taken at high zoom, because nobody wants to get close to the _rain of fire._  

 

Tony covers his mouth in horror.  He stares wide-eyed at the footage, even as silent tears slip down his face.  

 

This is hell on earth.  

 

This wasn’t supposed to be happening yet.  

 

He thought they had more time.

 

“JARVIS,” he says, voice shaky but resolve firmed, “Get me a secured line to the White House.”

 

Under normal circumstances, JARVIS wouldn’t hesitate to give sir a hard time, ask him if there was any particular person within _the entire White House_ that he wished to connect the call with...but he understands the gravity of the situation.

 

“Dialing President Potts now, sir.”

 

When the line picks up, Pepper already sounds worried.  Probably because he doesn’t call enough.

 

“Tony?”

 

“Hey Pep, I need you and Rhodey to come down to my basement here in Stark General ASAP.”

 

“What?  Rhodey’s in L.A. this week and I’m getting on a plane for the G8 conference in an hour,” she tells him.

 

“I’m sure he has his suit with him,” Tony says, as if not having it with him would be like not having his _pants_ with him, “And I’m pretty sure Air Force One will wait for you, seeing as how you’re the President.”

 

“We, _I,_ cannot just drop everything to go over there, Tony.  Didn’t someone just give an impassioned speech to the Senate about being trustworthy not too long ago?”  

 

“I need both of you to unlock it,” Tony says, knowing full well that she’ll understand what he’s talking about right away.  “Manufacturing a new dose would be a four day process, so I need you both to come down here and help me unlock it.” There’s never been anything else that he’s asked the both of them to stand guard over with him.  

 

“Tony...  What’s going on?  Wait, are you dying right now?!” Pepper asks, her voice getting just a tad shrill at the end there.  

 

“What?  No!  Not any more than usual, anyway,” Tony says defensively, rubbing his hands over his face.  

 

“Why are you thinking of using _that_ then?” she demands to know.  

 

“...You haven’t seen Chile yet, have you?” Tony asks, his voice stepping down into a virtual whisper.  

 

“Chile?  What’s going on in Chile?” she says aloud, but the way her voice gets a little farther away makes Tony think she’s turning and asking it to one of her aides, not him.  

 

This would be the perfect time to tease her again about letting him finally install Friday into the Oval Office, but the mood is far too somber for that.  

 

“The rain is _igniting,_ Pep, because it’s so polluted.  Thousands of people are dead because of it.  We’ve reached critical mass here.  If it’s happened there it can happen anywhere next,” Tony tells her.  

 

_“Oh_ _god..."_

 

Pepper must be finally seeing the footage on her end.  

 

“Tony, not that I don’t have every faith in you, but how does taking _that_ help with _this?...”_ she asks, the horror still clear in her voice.  

 

“I’m just one man.  I’ve only got a certain capacity no matter how much smarter I am than everyone else.  And I’ve had one foot in the grave for years now, you know that.  After the heart attack, it’s more like...it’s more like I’m sitting on the edge of it, dangling both feet in...  If I take _that,_ then it not only expands my capacity, it lets me live long enough to get all of this _done._  I’m already falling behind, I...  I can’t do it on my own.  Not like this.  And the planet doesn’t have enough time to wait around for the masses to be galvanized into action by my death.”

 

It’s silent on the line for a moment.  

 

“And you think that once you’ve taken it, you can get enough done in just four days that it will make a significant enough difference to justify us rushing over there instead of you just making up a new batch?” Pepper asks.  

 

“I do.”

 

“...  Ok then.”

 

Pepper keeps Tony on one line while she calls Rhodey from her cell, giving him a code that Tony probably shouldn’t be hearing, to authorize the abandonment of his Vice Presidential duties and War Machine’s immediate departure.  Then Pepper boards a helicopter to New York instead of a plane to Bern.

 

While Tony waits at the Tower for them to show up, he organizes an aid package to Chile from the Maria Stark Foundation, makes some more nanobots, and belatedly realizes he should probably ask James and Bucky if they want to hold his hand or something while he undergoes his transformation.  

 

Both of them leave work early when they hear what his plans are, though neither one of them tries to talk him out of it.  

 

Everyone arrives pretty close together, with Rhodey being the last of them, since he was so far away.  The process of doing the fingerprint and retina scans actually goes really quickly, and within minutes Tony is laying down on a cleared off workbench.

 

“Are you sure this is worth it, Tones?” Rhodey asks him quietly as he’s swabbing down the inside of his best friend’s elbow.  

 

“It’s _the earth,_ Rhodey, it’s everything that’s ever been worth anything to any of us.”

 

Rhodey gives him a stoic nod and squeezes his shoulder.  

 

James and Bucky do indeed hold his hand.  

 

After the plunger has been depressed and the syringe is empty, they only have to wait a few seconds for results.  JARVIS and Friday both register the spike in his temperature almost immediately as swirls of red lit fire start erupting under Tony’s skin.  They spread from the injection site outward, explosions chasing each other across his torso and up his neck.  When it reaches Tony’s head, he gasps, not in pain but in _awareness._  

 

The fire lingers over his chest, burning brighter there than anywhere else.  

 

Twenty-six and a half minutes later, the fire dies down and Tony Stark is reborn.  

 

After letting his friends and lovers assure themselves that he really is ok, Tony _gets to work._  

 

“Fri, you’re with me on the build site, start clearing it of workers now so it’s ready when the bots and I get there,” Tony instructs her.

 

“On it, Boss.”

 

“J, I’m putting you in charge of SI while I’m gone and of wrangling the supply chain.  I need you to keep it coming as fast as possible.  Get a couple of the old armors to go pick up shipments ourselves if we have to, whatever it takes,” Tony charges him.

 

“Of course, sir.”

 

“Pep, Rhodey, I know you have day jobs, but if there’s any fears needing soothed or panics needing quelled over the fact that the environment is turning on us, feel free to tell them that I’m on it,” he says with a nod, already heading for the door.  

 

“James, Bucky, I would never presume to order you around, but if you felt so inclined, it would be beyond wonderful if you could bring me a hot meal or two down at the site, maybe a change of clothes at some point...”

 

“We can do that, no problem, doll.  You plannin’ on being gone for awhile then?” James asks, looking a little worried for him.  

 

“As long as it takes to get the LAAS in progress finished,” Tony says with determination.

 

James and Bucky share a look.  

 

“I’ll make hamburgers for dinner then, you’ll need to keep up your energy,” Bucky decides.  

 

Tony grins, gives them all a salute, and then lets the nanobots form his armor around him.  He uses his super secret escape hatch to make a flying exit out of there, heading directly for the build site.  Figures and numbers and calculations are already dancing behind his eyelids, just waiting for him to put them to use.

 

He reaches out mentally to his existing stockpile of nanobots and _pulls_ them to him, feeling the way they swirl and slice through the air as if they’re part of him, as if they’re a seventh sense that he didn’t know he was missing.  The _connectedness_ was still there before extremis, but it’s like it’s been amplified a hundred fold.  His already impressive brain just got an upgrade in processing power, and he’s not afraid to use it.  He'd reached the limit of how many nanobots his mind could control at once a long time ago, which was why he brought Friday in on the project to start...  But now, when he calls, he can sort every answer with ease.  There's no limit at all, or at least it's so far off as to be laughable.

 

When Tony lands at the site, it’s already cleared of workers, which is good, because the nanobots descend around him like a cloud of locust.  They cover everything, surging toward the beginnings of the constructed frame, swamping the staging area for readied supplies, and pouring through the warehouse of all available parts.  

 

The suit falls away from him, going to join the rest of its kind.  

 

In twenty minutes, the nanobots have assembled all the materials staged for the next few days’ construction and have flung open the warehouse’s doors at Tony’s guidance.  It’s also about that time that he goes and snags a plastic chair from the outdoor break area, dragging it over to where he’ll have line of sight on the entire project.  Not that he needs line of sight on the nanobots to control them or anything, it’s just easier to do what he’s doing if he can _see_ what he’s doing.  

 

Five hours later, James and Bucky show up with dinner and a couple one-armed helpers in tow.  

 

“They thought you meant that they were going to get to come down here when you said ‘you and the bots’ were heading to the site...  J tried to explain to them that you mean the nanobots, but they were so heartbroken that we decided to go ahead and bring them with us,” Bucky explains.  

 

DUM-E and U race around the pavement in the background, whirling their arms in the air like they’re going to catch the nanobots out of it.  

 

“Yeah?  You fell for that little mournful whistle thing DUM-E does, didn’t you?” Tony says to Bucky.  

 

“Hook, line, and sinker,” James replies for him with a fond smile.  

 

“They just want to feel included, that’s all,” Bucky says with a shrug, not embarrassed at all.  

 

“Well, I’m sure I can find something around here for them to do…” Tony concedes, causing Bucky to give him a grateful smile.  “Hey!  Slacker-bots!” he yells, waving at them and getting their attention, “Play time’s over!  I need you guys on clean up duty ASAP!”

 

Both bots come rushing over to him, practically vibrating with excitement to be needed.  

 

“All this garbage needs to go in the industrial bins over there.  See these wrappers?  Yes, all the packaging materials, any broken pallets too.  You guys know I like to keep a clean work space,” he says as he sends them off.

 

The nanobots keep assembling the LAAS without interruption as he interacts with his family.  Bucky comes up and wraps his arms around him from behind, giving Tony a firm squeeze.

 

“Thanks, doll,” he says sincerely, giving Tony a kiss on the temple.

 

“No problem.”

 

<//>

 

After twenty continuous hours, construction on LAAS number two is done.  Tony’s certainly stayed up longer than this in one stretch before, but they need to wait on more materials to be delivered anyway, so...  He turns things back over to the human crew for the next eight hours, telling them to just unload the incoming supply trucks like mad.  It doesn’t matter where it goes or what shelf it’s set on.  There are cameras all throughout the warehouse, so J and Friday will be able to guide him as needed.

 

He sends the completed LAAS to fly in the airspace just above where the ocean meets Chile’s beaches, as an apology for not having done more sooner.  

 

They’ll build another Water Environmental Emergency Buoy next, to station in Chile’s waters.  

 

Because of the way the water cycle works, it’s better to keep making them one for one, air and sea.  

 

Because of the way Tony’s brain works, he’s not going to be able to truly _turn off_ until they’re all done, but he indulges in some restless sleep now and then for James’ and Bucky’s sakes.

 

In four days he puts together three units, only stopping to sleep when they run out of parts.  That puts five total in operation by the end of the time it would have taken him to craft a new dose of extremis.  It’s not enough to register a drop in worldwide pollution levels immediately, but Tony is of a mind that when you’re teetering on the edge of a precipice, any tiny movement backward could be the one that saves your life.

 

It takes a total of seventy five days for the thirty air filters and thirty water filters to be completed.  The original projection was three years, even with a team the caliber of SI’s on the job.  By the end of it, the whole world is watching Tony work.  

 

At first it was just people being fascinated by the nanobots and getting to see them in action.  Then it was with increasing nervousness as another rainfall caught fire in Shanghai, and one in L.A. killed all the plants it came in contact with.  People were already getting sick around the globe in increasingly large numbers, but all of a sudden the issue is much more real and in people’s faces.  

 

You can ignore your neighbors’ mysterious cancer a lot easier than you can ignore the rain catching on fire.  Granted, fish and all manner of sea life have been washing up dead on the shores for a while now, but this is, like, actually affecting _humans_ now, so that’s a _real_ problem.

 

It becomes a world wide effort, with countries around the globe pitching in to get Tony the parts he needs, to make sure there’s never too big of a wait time on materials.  Countries that are sworn enemies are suddenly willing to work with each other.  Tariffs are lifted and restrictions on exports are eased.

 

Afterward, when the pollution levels finally start inching down, and no more cities are lost to waves of flame, the committee in Norway puts him up for a Peace Prize.  

 

He hears he’s a shoe-in for that nomination too.  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made you guys a cheat sheet for the second part of this chapter ;)
> 
> Troposphere: Lowest layer of the atmosphere, extends up approx 10 km. Humans live in it, almost all weather occurs in it.  
> Stratosphere: Extends to approx 50 km up, ozone layer is found here, commercial jetliners fly in the lower part of it.  
> Mesosphere: Extends to approx 85 km up, this is where meteors burn up, air is far too thin to breathe.  
> Thermosphere: Can range from 500 km to 1000 km, many satellites actually orbit within this sphere, very rare air.  
> Exosphere: Very very very thin air, no clear cut boundary between it and space, some definitions place the top of it between 100,000 km and 190,000 km from earth’s surface (the latter of which is about halfway to the moon).

Most people do not have a single point in their lives that they can look back on and say “That!  That’s where it all went wrong!”

 

Tony sincerely hopes that this isn’t going to be that moment for him.  

 

He’s taken every precaution he can think of, programmed multiple, redundant fail safes, and re-watched every sci-fi movie he can think of that deals with the relevant philosophy.  

 

If he can _at all_ help it, he won’t be one of those scientists that gets so preoccupied with whether or not he _can,_ that he doesn’t stop to think if he _should._  

 

“Uh, why is there a poster of Jeff Goldblum taped to the acetylene tank?” James asks, scratching his head.  

 

“Because Pepper lives in D.C. now and I need somebody to keep me accountable,” Tony says, like _duh,_ how had he not guessed that...  “I tried taping it to DUM-E, but it kept getting snagged and ripping Jeff in half.”

 

“Right...  I guess that charge on our card for six Jurassic Park posters wasn’t a fraud then...”  

 

“Hey, I may not be a billionaire anymore, but being CEO of SI does come with a paycheck in the millions,” Tony points out.  

 

“I ain’t complainin’...  But you’re going to need to explain it to Buck yourself, ‘cause I ain’t takin’ that bullet for you,” James grins.  

 

Tony hangs his head.  

 

“Ok, ok, fine.  I’ll be right there.  Fri, lock down this code while I’m gone.  And I mean in every way.  Total seclusion from anything that might even resemble a nanobot.  If this somehow goes active and the apocalypse starts while I’m in the middle of having an argument with my boyfriend over fan memorabilia, it’s on you, you hear me?  I will throw you under the bus in a heartbeat if these things start replicating without my say so, are we clear?”

 

“Clear, Boss.”

 

“I thought we weren’t using the “R” word, sir...” JARVIS says drolly, as if in his sister’s defense.  

 

Tony scrubs his hands over his face.

 

“...We aren’t.  Don’t make me mute you, J.”  

 

“Define, ‘make’, sir...” JARVIS sasses back, _making_ Tony smile and shake his head.

 

The thing is, he _is_ pretty confident that he’s done this right, that there’s no way the nanobots could ever get stuck in “self fabrication mode”, as he calls it.  They can’t develop a mind of their own, because his mind is their mind.  Except for when Friday’s mind is their mind...  But he trusts his baby girl to never go rogue just as much as he trusts JARVIS not to.  Which is more than he trusts _himself_ not to, if you want to nitpick...

 

Both of them have a better understanding of life and of death than he could ever have hoped to program into them, because of the things they’ve experienced.  Being murdered by Ultron for JARVIS, and for Friday, the less terrifying but still impactful implications of her “missed” sync opportunity.

 

“Alright, be good, kiddos, we’ll pick this back up in the morning.”

 

_“Yes, Dad,”_ both AI’s chorus at him sarcastically.

 

But Tony wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

<//>

 

He almost feels like he should grab a physical keyboard and hit “Enter” when the time comes, but in the end he just shakes himself and says, “Ok, Fri, do it.”

 

The two nanobots they’ve isolated from the rest of the network spring to life.  

 

They build a nanobot.  

 

That nanobot sits inactive, not connected to any network, an empty vessel waiting for a command as the original two build another one.  

 

Tony breathes a sigh of relief.  Then he grins happily.  “It’s working, Fri, holy shit...”

 

“What’s workin’, doll?” Bucky asks curiously as he’s getting ready for work.  

 

“Oh, uh, Friday and I programmed the nanobots to build nanobots, and, so far, it seems to be working perfectly,” he explains, gesturing toward the screen.  He has the container where the nanobots are working magnified on a screen at like a bazillion percent.

 

“Wouldn’t it be faster if the ones they made helped too, you know, afterward?...” Bucky says, pointing to the inactive ones just sitting there.  

 

“It _would,_ but ‘fast’ isn’t always best.  That kind of thing can get out of control _real_ quick.”

 

Bucky raises an eyebrow at him.  

 

“Ok, say I gave you a penny one day, and then on day two I gave you two pennies, and then on day three I gave you _four_ pennies, and I doubled it every day after that, et cetera et cetera.  How much money do you think I’d be giving you at the end of oh, say, thirty days?” Tony asks him, wagging both his eyebrows in return.  

 

Bucky snorts and says, “I don’t know, a couple hundred bucks, maybe?”  

 

Friday helpfully brings up a graphic to back what Tony’s about to say.  

 

“Actually, you’d have $5,368,709.12 at the end of thirty days.  That’s the power of doubling,” he says solemnly.

 

“But that’s a bad thing, with the nanobots?...” Bucky asks, not quite understanding the full scope of the problem.  

 

“Friday?” Tony prompts her.  

 

“To put the issue in scale, there are 83,612,736,000,000 nanobots within a cubic meter.  And Boss currently has approximately 116 cubic meters of nanobots at his ready disposal.  That’s over nine and a half quintillion nanobots... _as a starting point...”_

 

“Oh,” Bucky says elegantly.

 

“Oh, indeed,” Tony echoes.  

 

<//>

 

“So, confession time,” Tony says, eyeing Carol as seriously as he ever eyes anyone, “I may have actually shown Peter, Parker that is, not Quill, uh, how the nanobots work?...  But it was while we were still in space, _way_ before I knew that the rest of the universe would apparently hold earth to that Ko Treaty thing, so, um, yeah...  Sorry not sorry?” he winces apologetically.

 

Carol takes a swig of her beer before answering him.  

 

“Wow, you actually bought that too?” she says, her tone clear that she’s laughing at him even though she’s not, you know, _physically_ laughing.  “Huh, I thought you were supposed to be smart...”

 

“Uh, yes?  Wait, did, did you _make that up?”_ Tony asks, positively aghast.  

 

“Not so much made up as...stretched the truth,” Carol admits, raising an eyebrow at him.  “Terra wouldn’t really be bound by the pledge of some guy who claimed rule over a whole bunch of ‘uninhabited’ sectors of space a few thousand years ago, especially not if Terra was determined to actually be under ‘self rule’ now.  But the Trotors _did_ sign back then, while claiming to rule this part of the galaxy, so...”

 

“Don’t all planets start out ruling themselves?” Tony quips.

 

“Not if they’re colonized and didn’t contain intelligent life beforehand,” Carol comes back with right away.  

 

Rhodey snickers and takes a swig of his own beer.  

 

“I’m actually pretty sure there were humans on this planet 3000 years ago...” Tony points out, because now that he thinks about it, that doesn’t really make sense...

 

“Look, intelligence is a gradient, right?  So when you’re making these kinds of designations, determining what meets the criteria for ‘intelligent’ life, you have to have a cut off somewhere.  The fact of the matter is, for a long time, Terra didn’t make the threshold,” Carol says with a shrug, “So even if someone else hadn’t claimed this quadrant, you still wouldn’t, _we_ wouldn’t have been able to enter into any intergalactic treaties ourselves anyway.”

 

“Harsh.  But what about now?  Will we be required to sign the treaty within a certain time frame or what?  I’m just asking for a friend...” Tony says fake-casually.

 

Carol gives him a flat, yet slightly amused look.

 

“Actually, Terra still doesn’t meet the requirements for being considered ‘self ruled’,” she informs them, talking over Tony when he starts to complain, _“Even though_ it _is_ recognized that it contains intelligent life now, you’ve never come together as one people, never had one governing person or body for the whole planet.  Until that happens, you can’t be expected to sign _or uphold_ any treaties.”

 

Tony pouts.

 

“Why are you poutin’?  That’s a good thing, means you ain’t in trouble,” James says, kicking Tony’s ankle gently.  

 

“Oh.  Good point.  ...  So what are everyone’s plans for the weekend?” Tony says, changing the subject with an obviousness that somehow still manages to be smooth.  

 

“I have a meeting with the Accords Council,” Rhodey sighs, because it can’t be helped.  

 

“I have to head back out on patrol.  There are several outlying planets that I haven’t checked up on in a while,” Carol says, giving Rhodey’s hand a squeeze.  

 

“I’ll probably sleep in, then help Buck go through the sale ads,” James tells them, smiling at the domesticity of it.  

 

“And I’ll probably be fucking Bucky while James sleeps in, then I’ll _really_ sleep in after that, and won’t clip coupons,” Tony smirks.  

 

That flat look is back on Carol’s face.

 

But without the amusement.

 

Tony fidgets under the weight of it.  

 

“You know, I liked it better when you were lying under oath for me, not judging my lifestyle choices...  And the effect of that stare is somewhat lessened by the fact that Rhodey's sitting in your lap, though, just so you know.  Ok, I lied, it’s not lessened at all and I am suitably terrified,” Tony corrects himself when Carol raises an incredulous eyebrow at him.  

 

She just shakes her head fondly though, half a smile tugging at her lips as she says, “Terrified enough to get me another beer?”

 

Tony hops up out of James’ lap with a mock salute and exaggerated eagerness as he says, _“Definitely.”_

 

<//>  

 

“I ain’t mad,” Bucky prefaces the conversation with, “But why did you charge a night’s stay at the _Mandarin Oriental_ for tonight, if we were just going to sleep here?...”

 

“Oh.  That wasn’t for us,” Tony says, twisting around in Bucky’s arms, “That was for Sour Patch and Brass Tacks, so they could have some nice alone time before she heads off planet...  Why?  Did...did you want to go stay in a fancy hotel for a couple nights?” Tony asks with a grin when Bucky buries his face in Tony’s shoulder and blushes.

 

“Maybe...”

 

<//>

 

A couple months later, Tony is giving an honorary lecture at MIT when JARVIS halts his presentation and a klaxon sounds from his phone.

 

_“Proximity Alert Triggered.”_

 

Tony blinks.  

 

“How clo-”

“Unknown vessels are _in the exosphere,_ sir.  They are not responding to our attempts to communicate.  Defenses are being deployed immediately.”

 

Tony looks up at the sea of young faces in front of him and says, “Everyone remain calm...but I have to go.”

 

The suit is already surging around him.  He takes to the air and blasts through the nearest window, with no time to worry about falling glass.  

 

“Any word from the Accords Council yet?” Tony asks as he heads straight for the upper atmosphere.  He can see little dots all over the sky that must be the spaceships.  They’re probably too small for people on the ground to have noticed them yet, but they will soon...

 

“Not yet.  There are over a thousand alien ships detected around the earth.  They must have some sort of cloaking ability, sir.  Neither Friday nor I detected them until they were already here, even with the newly upgraded sensors.”

 

“Ok, you work on coordinating things with the Council, Fri and I will take the nanobots up and give them a little show of force,” Tony says, determined.  

 

“On it, Boss.  The nanobots are already away.”

 

_“Sir,_ we are being fired upon.  New York, Wakanda, and Kamar-Taj have all been targeted,” JARVIS says urgently.

 

“Shields?” Tony asks, kicking the suit’s repulsors into overdrive.  The ships grow larger in front of him as he gets closer.

 

“We were able to use the nanobots to deflect the hit here, and Wakanda’s shields seem to be holding, but Kamar-Taj was unable to raise their defenses quickly enough.  Sorcerers are on the scene now, but they took heavy damage.”

 

Tony is already punching through the atmosphere when the alert comes through from the Council to assemble defenses.  

 

“Yeah, these guys obviously aren’t here to establish trade...” Tony mutters to himself.  

 

“War Machine and the Vision have been deployed, sir,” JARVIS informs him.

 

“That’s it?” Tony asks incredulously, because _hello, fleet of alien invaders._

 

“Everyone else needs to be able to breathe to fight, sir.”

 

“And let me guess, the Guardians aren’t on planet right now?”

 

“No, they departed a few days ago.”

 

“Ok, if these guys are just going to show up and start shooting, we’re dispensing with the pleasantries too,” Tony decides.  He forms the nanobots into a _giant_ spike and impales the nearest ship.  Then he _pulls_ mentally, and they expand outward, rending the ship to pieces.  He uses the nanobots to give the pieces a little push too, like he’s sweeping them out of their atmosphere, to make sure they don’t have a chance to fall to earth and land on anyone.

 

The alien fleet responds by firing on the planet _and him._  

 

“Fri, we’re going to need more nanobots.  A whole lot more nanobots,” Tony says as he dodges.  He can feel that some of them were destroyed by _piercing_ the way that he did.  “Release the locked ones on the ship and use them to deflect as many of those lasers as possible.  Most of the earth doesn’t have a way to defend against this.”  He keeps destroying as many ships as he can with the nanobots, but there’s just too many of them...

 

Back in New York, the spaceship they took to go after Thanos _dissolves_ completely where it’s parked, the few items left behind by its former inhabitants falling to the ground as a silver cloud of nanobots races toward the sky.  

 

Friday spreads them out and uses them as a virtually _living shield_ between the attackers and the earth, keeping to the troposphere as much as possible since there’s still not enough to go around.  She’s able to deflect a good 75% of the blasts over populated areas, but the hits landing in the ocean she lets go through by necessity.  Every time they deflect a blast, a few more nanobots go _offline._  

 

“Boss, it’s still not enough!” she says, sounding worried.  

 

“Incoming, sir, Russian ballistic defense systems have been engaged,” JARVIS tells him.

 

While Tony is swooping around a laser blast, he hazards a look at the earth.  “Please tell me they’re not nuclear...” he says, knowing that much radiation released into the atmosphere would literally doom them all.  “It’s a little early in the fight for the ‘if we can’t have it no one can’ strategy.”

 

“No, sir.  I was able to... _dissuade_ their use of them.  Tangentially, President Putin wishes me to inform you that he will be having words with you about ‘how far you are up their ass’ when this is all done...”

 

“Well, pencil him in for something that works with James’ and Bucky’s schedules too,” Tony says with a grin as he destroys another ship, “I don’t do my polyamory negotiations without all members being present.”  

 

Tony is briefly distracted by the feed JARVIS pops up on the HUD, showing the Russian missiles having no effect on the ships.  They explode against some sort of force field barrier before being able to make contact.

 

“J?”

 

“It appears the nanobots are able to slip through the shields where conventional weapons are not.”

 

“Yeah, I can see that.”

 

_“Boss,_ we’re down to 60% coverage,” Friday’s voice sounds strained, “Hits are getting through to more populated areas now.”

 

“Damn it.  We aren’t going to win like this...” Tony mutters, his mind racing.  “Tell Rhodey and Vision to pull back, have them land.”

 

“Tones?  I hope you have a plan, because Vision’s mind beam is the only thing able to hurt them on our end,” Rhodey says after he gets the order.  The two of them are too far away for Tony to get a visual on, but he trusts them to trust him.

 

“Don’t I always, Platypus?”  

 

“Let me rephrase that, I hope you have a plan that doesn’t involve you sacrificing your dumbass.”

 

“Not my ass that’s going to be sacrificed this time, Honey Bear, but thanks for your concern,” Tony says as he retreats back to the thermosphere.  “Friday, give me control of the lockboxes over the arc reactors, worldwide.”

 

“...Be careful, boss,” she says as the transfer goes through.  

 

Tony can feel the web of them in his mind, not perfectly spaced around the globe, but close enough.  “Divert the nanobots acting as a shield to my command on my mark,” Tony says, hovering just above the mesosphere now.  

 

“Rhodey, Vision, are you clear?” Tony asks, though, now that he thinks about it, he’s not sure Vision would actually be in danger, since he’s made of vibranium...

 

“Clear,” they both radio in.  

 

“3, 2, 1, mark,” Tony says without preamble.  

 

As soon as Friday hands the shield over to him, Tony drops defenses and makes every single nanobot rocket outward, as if caught in an explosion.  

 

Because if there’s one thing the former Merchant of Death understands better than anything else, it’s the damage that can be wrought by _shrapnel._  

 

The enemy immediately stops firing, because their systems are now Swiss cheese, and every single ship starts to break up and float away from the earth, carried by the residual force of the nanobots slamming into them.  

 

The alien fleet is completely destroyed.

 

Tony’s basically destroyed his entire stock of nanobots to do it, but hey, what’s a little total annihilation between enemies?  

 

“Note to self, figure out how to detect cloaked ships ASAP,” Tony says with a sigh.  He decides to take a lap or two around the earth after that, to make sure none of the larger chunks of debris get caught by their gravity and pulled in.  You know, the ones that are big enough to not burn up completely upon entry.

 

“Sir, sensors are picking up another ship emerging from behind the moon,” JARVIS says just a few minutes later.  

 

“Hostiles?” Tony asks, diverting his flight path right away.  

 

“It appears to be a larger version of the ships that just attacked, sir,” JARVIS informs him worriedly.  

 

“Damn it.  How could you let me forget about the mothership, J?” Tony says, attempting to joke but falling flat.  

 

“I apologize, sir,” JARVIS says, far too seriously.  

 

“Not your fault, J,” Tony says hurriedly.  “Remind me later to install a sensor array on the dark side of the goddamn moon.”

 

“I have penciled it in after your meeting with President Putin, sir.”

 

The mothership fires on earth, from much farther away than the other ships did, but with a larger laser.

 

Tony is seriously considering letting the few remaining nanobots that he has _replicate_ while he asks JARVIS where that blast was aimed.  

 

“Wakanda, sir.  Princess Shuri indicates that their shield cannot withstand another hit of that magnitude.”  

 

The mothership is already charging up for another blast.

 

“J, tell James and Bucky that I love them, ok?  I love all of you,” Tony says.

 

He doesn’t wait for a reply.

 

Tony breaks the suit up into a billion pieces, hurtling them at the mothership with the ferocity of a cornered animal, and he _falls._  

 

He keeps his eyes open for as long as he can, smiling to himself even through his wind-whipped tears as he watches the mothership get _decimated._  

 

“Earth 3, aliens 0,” Tony cackles to himself as he plunges to his death.  

 

Well, he has a kind of vague hope that maybe someone with flying super powers might be close enough to catch him, but, hell, he doesn’t even know what part of the earth he’s over right now...  All he knows is that a fall of this height would be too much for even extremis to heal.

 

The last thing he expects is for his sight to be obscured by a cloud of red mist, his limbs buoyed and his body eased out of its free fall.  

 

The panic that had been riding him hard slowly falls away, and a few minutes later, Tony sees the tops of buildings come into view beside him.  He’s slowly lowered to the ground, his back connecting softly with some grass and flowers and stuff.

 

Tony takes a deep, slightly shaky breath, just basking in the relief for a second, and also trying to determine if he wet himself during the fall, or just landed in a puddle...  

 

Wanda stands over him a moment later, blocking out the sun as she looks him over.  

 

“Thanks,” he says inadequately.  

 

She offers him a hand, helping to pull him up.  Then she glances at the sky, at the trails being left in it as bits of broken spaceships burn up in the atmosphere.  

 

“No, Tony.  Thank you,” Wanda says sincerely.

 

He nods, like it was no big deal.  

 

“So, where are we right now?” he asks, looking around at the people starting to clap for him being alive.  He gives a few waves to the crowd.

 

“Prague.”

 

“Huh.  Lucky you happened to be here.”

 

“Not luck,” Wanda says with a smile as Pietro is suddenly standing beside her, “We were actually in Sokovia when JARVIS sent out the distress call for _anyone_ who could catch you.”  

 

“I did not see that coming,” Tony says solemnly before Pietro can even open his mouth.  

 

While the three of them are laughing a little too hard, a civilian approaches them with her cell phone held out in front of her.  

 

“Sorry to interrupt, but, I posted a video of you landing onto my Twitter, and now this guy named JARVIS took over my phone?  He said to tell you he’s sending an old suit for you?”

 

“Thanks kid,” Tony says, giving her a smile, “And J, give her back her phone.”

 

“Of course, sir.  As soon as I am able to establish contact with you by another means.”

 

“Here, you can use my phone, JARVIS,” Wanda says, pulling it out of her pocket.

 

Tony accepts it with a smile.  “You know, you should change your name from the ‘Scarlet Witch’ to the _‘Helpful Witch’_...” he suggests.  

 

Wanda smiles at him kindly and says, “Don’t push your luck.”

 

<//>

 

They’re able to salvage part of the alien’s computers from the wreckage in space.  It takes a few weeks for them to crack their coding and language, but it’s worth it once they do.  

 

Apparently, they considered their attack on _Terra_ to be a preemptive strike, thinking that Tony couldn’t possibly have enough nanobots at his disposal to be a _real_ threat yet.  And they didn’t want to have to _deal_ with Terra once it was.  A real threat, that is.

 

Of course that only spurs Tony into making ten times as many nanobots as he’d had before.  

 

Not that he _wants_ people to think of earth as a _threat,_ but he’ll be damned if he lets the universe think they can just walk all over them.

 

<//>

 

“I can’t believe the entire ship was made of nanobots,” Brunhilde shakes her head as she watches the arm wrestling competition going on between Thor and Bucky.  

 

“Wait, the _entire_ thing was?” Bruce asks with a frown, “So that means...”

 

“I could have jettisoned Rogers into the cold void of space at any time with merely a thought?...   _Yep.”_  

 

<//>

 

Bucky’s frugality has been wearing off on him, but Tony does still buy a new suit to wear for the press conference where it will be announced that the governments of earth have _come to an agreement._  

 

From now on, Tony will be the first line of defense in all things _extraterrestrial._  The Accords will still be in place of course, but it’s become abundantly clear that the friendly forces all want to deal with him anyway, and he’s the only one with the _force_ to deal with the unfriendly ones.  

 

As part of that, they’ve also allowed for the fact that he may have to enter into agreements or understandings with groups of aliens without being able to consult the rest of the world first.  And they’ll _abide by his judgement._

 

“Really, J?” Tony had said when he’d heard about that part for the first time, “And which countries actually agreed to _that_ up front?”

 

“...All of them, sir.”  

 

<//>

 

When Carol finally gets back from her extended patrol, she doesn’t even comment on the debris field still being cleared from around the planet, or the nanobot production going on like gangbusters at the Tower...  

 

“Sorry that took longer than planned.  After they heard what happened here, Xandar called a preliminary council meeting that I had to attend.”

 

“Sounds tedious,” Tony says, deciding to keep it casual if she’s going to.  “By the way, the earth was almost destroyed.  But I handled it.”

 

“I heard,” Carol says, _“By the way,_ the Xandar delegation will be here in about a week.  But I’m sure you can handle it.”

 

“Really?  Xandar?  They haven’t shown any interest in trade with us before...”

 

“That's because they’re not coming to trade, Tony,” Carol says with a smirk.  She claps her hand on Tony's shoulder as her smirk becomes a knowing grin.  “There’s a treaty you need to sign.”

 

 

 

 

THE END

  


 

 


End file.
